Honey Buzzards at Brockholes Quarry - 22^nd September 2000 - by W. C. Aspin.

  Background to my Honey Buzzard sightings of 22/09/2000.

A.S. Disley had seen two Honey Buzzards the previous day (21/9) at Brockholes Quarry, but being at work that day, I couldn’t get on site until 1800hrs, some 3 hours after the last of the 2 HB’s had gone through the site. A vigil til dusk revealed a very pale Buteo sp. briefly over Redscar Woods, and so, the sinking feeling was that this was a ‘once in a lifetime’ chance to see a local Honey Buzzard gone!

Several phone discussions took place that evening with John Wright and Tony Disley, during which we theorised as to the now evident Honey buzzard invasion on the east coast and discussion naturally turned towards the possibility of more Honey Buzzards moving through Brockholes Quarry.

My theory was that any Honey Buzzards that were moving west across our part of England would probably latch onto a feature such as the relatively well wooded Ribble Valley and follow it west.

Clearly, in my opinion, two birds already had, but the question was would anymore do the same to prove my theory correct?

Luckily the 22^nd Sept 2000 fell on a Friday, which meant that I would finish work at 12.30hrs and be on-site for 13.00hrs for a lengthy vigil.      

The sightings of 22/09/2000.

From 13.00hrs til 15.00hrs there were no sign of any large raptors, despite extensive scanning.

1^st bird (with brief account of 2^nd bird). The 1st bird was a pale individual.

At 15.05hrs I located a large raptor coming straight down the south side of the Ribble Valley. The bird was never close, but scope views left me in no doubt at all that the bird was a Honey Buzzard.

Description 

Flight profile/jizz :  Initially, the bird was gliding down the valley, virtually head-on. The wings were held level with the body and gently bowed downwards.

In identifying this (and indeed, the other pale bird as well), the immediate and most striking character, in my opinion, was not the plumage details, but the jizz (namely, the long tailed and long, broad winged appearance). The tail was certainly as long as the broadest part of the wings (the Carpals) and was clearly different to the short tailed appearance of Common Buzzard, none of which were present for comparison on the day but with which I have had plenty of experience with over the years. When the bird flapped it’s wings, I would describe the wingbeats as rather ‘loose’.

Plumage : The bird was pale below and the underparts were clearly barred, this barring extended out onto the underwing coverts, the rear of the underwing appearing paler with a dark trailing edge to the underwing.The upperparts appeared to be fairly evenly brown, but, to be honest, the features that i concentrated on were the jizz/flight profile and the underparts. The head appeared rather dark.  

This bird then began to soar (on level wings) just S.W. of Bezza Wood, gaining height rapidly. I kept on the bird and was amazed to see it join a 2^nd bird which was v.high. This bird showed the same jizz/soaring profile (i.e. level wings) as the 1^st bird and i am happy that it was another Honey Buzzard. No plumage details on this 2^nd bird were seen due to the height. Both birds then thermalled off  to the south at great height.

3rd Honey Buzzard - Dark Juvenile.

At 16.05hrs, I located another large raptor coming down the Ribble Valley on the same line as the first bird. Again, this bird was gliding almost head on down the valley. It then spent 10 minutes perched (out of sight), in Bezza Wood, before continuing down river to just past Salmesbury Church, when it thermalled up and drifted of in a southerly direction.

Flight profile/jizz : When seen head on, the bird glided on level wings, gently bowed. The bird showed long, broad wings and was obviously long tailed, the tail being about as long as the width of the wings. As the bird attempted to thermal, the wingbeats were rather ‘loose’, and the bird soared on level wings.

Plumage : The overall impression was of a very dark bird. The whole of the body and upperparts as well as the underwing coverts being a dark chocolate brown. The darkness of the bird was only relieved by the paler rear secondary area of the wings and, most noticable was an obvious pale area of the under primaries. The underside of the tail also appeared slightly paler, but I was not able to clearly discern the pattern of the tail barring during time of observation.

Bare parts : A feature which I found surprisingly striking on this bird , given that it was not very close, was how obvious the bright yellow Cere appeared, even at considerable range. Perhaps this was emphasised more by the darkness of the head/body plumage, coupled with bright sunlight.

4^th Bird - Pale individual.

This bird was seen only briefly at 16.55hrs. By this time, the wind had dropped and so this bird was seen flying totally differently (more purposefully) than the previous birds as it crossed the  Ribble Valley on a N-S heading. Unfortunately, I failed to pick this bird up until barely a minute before it dissappeared behind Bezza Wood..Once out of view behind Bezza Wood, It reappeared briefly beyond the other side still flying purposefully and rather low South..

I identified this bird as a Honey Buzzard by the long, broad winged and long tailed jizz. This bird flew with deep, rather loose wingbeats., and was obviously putting some effort in. On the uplift, the wings were brought high above the horizontal.

The bird could be seen to be pale beneath, and again, as with the 1^st pale bird, was barred beneath and also on the underwings. Upperparts appeared brown.

This is all the detail I could take note of in the duration of this sighting.

5^th Bird

This bird was seen briefly, at 17.40hrs.By this time, John Wright had arrived on site. All we saw of this bird was the back on flight profile as it flew away to the SW. As a result we both felt this bird was a Honey Buzzard on flight profile alone.

This bird glided on level wings. When the bird flapped, the wings were not brought above horizontal.

Summary : In my opinion I saw 5 Honey Buzzards moving through Brockholes Quarry on 22^ndSeptember 2000. The only bird I feel I can confidently age is the dark Juvenile. I have decided not to age the two pale birds seen, although I felt at the time that they were adults due to the barring beneath. But, due to inexperience with plumages of Honey Buzzards and I believe 99.9% of birds seen nationally during this influx were thought to be juveniles, I am happy to leave them as Honey Buzzards - age uncertain. As for the other two birds seen,I couldn’t even attempt to age as they were identified on jizz/flight profile only.

These birds coupled with 2 dark Juveniles which flew over John Wright and myself whilst at Old Hollow Farm on 30^th September brings my personal haul of Honey Buzzards during the influx in Lancashire to a remarkable seven! Surely a once in a lifetime event!

All records accepted by the Lancashire rarities commitee.