Well, it is that time of year when the big Accipters start doing their thing in the skies over the Brecks, so Reg and me headed down to our favourite site, in a gap between downpours on Saturday. A few Crossbills greeted us on arrival, with Siskins and Coal Tits singing from the spruces. On arrival at our favoured spot, Woodlarks sang from all around and after only five minutes Reg said "raptor" and we both then said "Goshawk" in unison, despite both looking at different birds. A pair had risen up out of the woods, the male heading off west whilst the giant female circled around on stiff, harrier-like wings displaying. Her undertail was puffed up like a snowball, almost encircling her closed tail as she glided around over the trees. Fantastic! For the next hour or so, we had several good views of the pair, with the male circling up high over the woods for about 10 minutes at one point (see photo below). Real bulky, keel-heavy birds. A curious Stoat made an appearance too.
We headed over to Lynford Hawfinchery where we immediately picked up several of these bulky finches in and around the paddock Hornbeams. It seemed they were feeding on the ground, presumably on fallen seed, with several Chaffinches. We counted 15 in all.
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