October 23, 2024
Nine members of BG2 met at Wandlebury on a fine dry morning with hardly any wind. The fog that had been forecast didn’t materialise and we soon warmed up. Perfect conditions for birdwatching.
Although Wandlebury is only a few miles from central Cambridge, most of our members were visiting for the first time. The site has an interesting history. It was an iron age fort, has Roman connections and in the late 18th century was a stable and forerunner of today’s horse racing facilities at Newmarket.
Wandlebury is by Cambridge standards a big hill and has a mixture of woods, some coppiced, and fields with livestock, including Highland cattle.
The largest paddock had some large trees, one fitted with an owl box. Unfortunately, the resident didn’t show itself during our visit but there were signs of either Tawny or Barn owls evidenced by the droppings in the hide.
The early part of our walk revealed few birds other than Wrens and House Sparrows calling from the scrub. As we progressed to the hide we had Jackdaws and Long-tailed tits and Merlin detected a Tree Creeper.
After admiring the view northwards over the golf course and getting a misty sighting of Ely Cathedral we started downhill. A Magpie was seen on the golf course and a Green Woodpecker was calling. We passed a coppiced area where a Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen clearly quite close by. It was a male as it had a red patch on its nape whereas female’s heads are black and white.
A family of Long-tailed tits was moving through and Blue and Great tits were also busy. Tracey saw a Nuthatch but it moved away before the rest of the group could see it.
On previous visits to Wandlebury I have seen Jays but this time I only saw Jackdaws and Carrion Crows from the corvid family. However, there was a call that could well have been a Raven and it was likely that Rooks were in this habitat.
Back at the bottom of the hill our main sightings were birds of prey which were riding the thermals. We saw Kestrel, Red Kite and Common Buzzard.
In summary, an enjoyable walk which is good in wet conditions compared to other local sites. Not a large number of birds seen this time but definitely worth a visit.
Identification of Raptors
In March 2022 I went on a raptor identification course at Elan Valley in Wales. The course leader was Keith Offord and I have summarised his notes which may help you to id these exciting birds. Apologies to Keith for any errors or omissions in what is a big subject to dela with thoroughly.
Raptors are birds that belong to the taxonomic order Falconiformes. They have hooked beaks, sharp curved talons, keen vision and are carnivorous. They are commonly called birds of prey.
The commonest Falconiformes are Accipitridiae, comprising Hawks, Eagles, Kites, Harriers and Buzzards (217 species), Falconidae, comprising agile predators relying more on live prey than carrion (60species). They have longer wings than Accipitridiae. Ospreys are in a family of their own. They eat fish and have a unque foot-structure that enables them to grasp their prey.
Raptors characteristics include a hooked bill, powerful feet for seizing prey, extraordinary eyesight, great ability to glide and soar and have light bodies with large wings enabling less effort to be used to remain airborne. In some raptors the female is larger than the male, especially Sparrowhawks. This is thought to be due to the agility of the prey. Raptors that hunt fastest have the greatest size difference between male and female. Carrion eaters show no appreciable difference between the sexes.
Falcons include Peregrine, Merlin, Kestrel and Hobby. They are generally long-winged fast flying birds that use speed for hunting. Kestrel is the odd one out that uses hovering. Peregrine and Hobby have short tails, Kestrel has a long tail.
Accipiters include Sparrowhawks and Goshawks. They are shorter winged with long tails and are adapted to hunt in forests. Their prey is mainly birds and females are a lot bigger than males.
Harriers are medium-to-large, long-winged, long-tailed raptors with owlish faces. They usually hunt low and slow for small birds and mammals.
Buzzards are medium-to-large with broad wings and short tails. Their prey is small mammals but also carrion and earthworms. They resemble Eagles soaring and showing individual primaries.
Red Kite are medium-to-large raptors with long wings and long forked tails which are typically twisted in flight. They are very manoeuvrable and feed on small mammals, birds, invertebrates and carrion.
Honey Buzzard is actually unrelated to the Common Buzzard. They feed almost exclusively on wasp larvae. They have a very small pigeon-like head.
Osprey is a medium-to-large raptor with distinctly long, angled wings and a very short tail. It is always found near water except on migration. It has a reversible outer toe and closable nostrils.
Eagles are very large raptors with feathered legs and long, broad fingered wings. White tailed Eagle has a tiny wedge tail, Golden Eagle has a medium length tail.
Size is an important id factor. Larger birds have smaller heads in relation to their bodies. Larger birds flap their wings less often in level flight and soar in wide circles.
Other important distinguishing features are the wing and tail dimensions, flight pattern and shape of silhouette, and hunting strategy.
Honey Buzzards, Hobby and Osprey are summer visitors while Rough-legged Buzzards are winter visitors. Most other raptors are with us all year.
Marsh Harrier is usually seen quartering over reed beds. Adult males are grey but darker than Hen Harrier males. Females and juveniles are dark brown with creamy yellow shoulders.
Peregrine is our heaviest and largest Falcon. It flies on stiff pointed wings. When gliding it looks like an anchor. Its tail is quite short and it is capable of great speed when diving, called stooping. Its white cheek patches contrast noticeably with its dark hood and moustachial stripe. Females are bigger than males and have broader wings.
Merlin is superficially like a small Peregrine. They are birds of open country and are easily confused with Kestrels. Their prey is mostly smaller birds.
Kestrel is longer-tailed than any other Falcon. They do not exude the energy of Merlins or the power of Peregrines. Adult males have slate-grey heads.
Hobby has long wings and has great speed in pursuit of birds including swifts. They feed on dragonflies when available and are one of the few birds agile enough to outfly them as they change direction rapidly. Hobbies look rather like small Peregrines.