Okay, it's probably nowhere near as big a deal as I at first thought -and any ornithologist types here will probably confirm that - but...
I was out for a ride yesterday afternoon and I was heading up the B3046 from Alresford to Basingstoke - I think I'd just passed through Preston Candover - when I noticed a couple of birds circling above the road. As I immediately suspected, they were waiting to get at some reasonaly fresh - and really quite large - roadkill (which I narrowly avoided). One was just a crow, I think, but the other was the familiar 'hawk' shape (I'm used to seeing kestrels all the time) only much, MUCH bigger! In fact, as I passed directly underneath it, I managed to glance up and I'd estimate its wingspan as just over 4 feet!
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stop really, as some twat was driving right on my tail. However, I did also notice that its colouring was mostly dark brown, but with very distinct 'panels' of orange and white feathers forming what looked like concentric oblongs on the trailing edges of its wings - almost like an aircraft with white 'airelons', framed with orange and brown around the edges of the under-wings.
Now, I've looked it up on google images, and the (British-native) buzzards on there don't seem to have exactly the same patterns on their under-wings - the white panels seem to go almost the entire length of their wings, whereas these just seemed like oblongs in the middle section.
So... can any OTF ornithologist-types tell me if what I saw was some kind of standard buzzard for Britain, or perhaps something a little different? At first, when I saw it, I inwardly joked about it being a vulture or an eagle, but was amazed by its size as I drew nearer to it. It was the largest bird I've seen in this country, short of a heron (of which I see quite alot on the local ponds and lakes and in the air between them).
Apologies to those for whom this seems quite banal - I expect such sightings are everyday in parts of the North, Scotland and Wales.
I was out for a ride yesterday afternoon and I was heading up the B3046 from Alresford to Basingstoke - I think I'd just passed through Preston Candover - when I noticed a couple of birds circling above the road. As I immediately suspected, they were waiting to get at some reasonaly fresh - and really quite large - roadkill (which I narrowly avoided). One was just a crow, I think, but the other was the familiar 'hawk' shape (I'm used to seeing kestrels all the time) only much, MUCH bigger! In fact, as I passed directly underneath it, I managed to glance up and I'd estimate its wingspan as just over 4 feet!
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stop really, as some twat was driving right on my tail. However, I did also notice that its colouring was mostly dark brown, but with very distinct 'panels' of orange and white feathers forming what looked like concentric oblongs on the trailing edges of its wings - almost like an aircraft with white 'airelons', framed with orange and brown around the edges of the under-wings.
Now, I've looked it up on google images, and the (British-native) buzzards on there don't seem to have exactly the same patterns on their under-wings - the white panels seem to go almost the entire length of their wings, whereas these just seemed like oblongs in the middle section.
So... can any OTF ornithologist-types tell me if what I saw was some kind of standard buzzard for Britain, or perhaps something a little different? At first, when I saw it, I inwardly joked about it being a vulture or an eagle, but was amazed by its size as I drew nearer to it. It was the largest bird I've seen in this country, short of a heron (of which I see quite alot on the local ponds and lakes and in the air between them).
Apologies to those for whom this seems quite banal - I expect such sightings are everyday in parts of the North, Scotland and Wales.
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