Raptors!

With the NW winds and warm sunny weather today I was expecting some good raptor activity at Beddington Farmlands. A Crane spotted by Dave Harris to the west of us sadly did not make an appearance here but there were plenty of Buzzards, 3 Red Kites, Sparrowhawks, Kestrels and a Peregrine all giving us something to watch in the skies. Then at 12:31 a Marsh Harrier came in low from the south and quickly gained height as it circled over Mile Road gate before flying off WNW. My mum had literally just started walking off to go home so I had to shout to get her attention and then run to her to get her on it. It was actually 7th April last year that I patch ticked Marsh Harrier here! 18 minutes later as Duncan, Glenn and I were talking about Ospreys I picked up a raptor flying high north west and interrupted the conversation by saying, "speaking of which..." and pointed them both onto the bird. Interestingly four minutes later one was reported at the London Wetland Centre but this must have been a different bird. So that's my third record of Osprey at the Farmlands just a week and a day after my second. The Buzzard activity continued further into the afternoon but I reluctantly decided to leave at 14:30. Full eBird list here.

Marsh Harrier below:

Osprey above and below

Rook above and below

Greylag Geese above and below

Red Fox