Sunday, October 31, 2010

Now that's what I call...

a Rough legged Buzzard or 4...

Up before light and off to meet Mssrs Tilmouth and McLevy for a jaunt down south to the Cleveland Moors to do some Rough legged Buzzard revision.

 An hour in the car found us on top of Kildale Moor viewing up into Sleddale before 9.30am.

Alan soon picked out RLB#1 perched in an isolated Rowan on the far hillside. This was soon to be joined by RLB#2. Both birds flew around a bit and dropped into the heather. The views were quite distant so we decided to walk the track to Sleddale Farm for a better look...


 
Along here, the views were excellent despite the low cloud and low light. Both birds flew around a massive rabbit warren, with one bird interacting with a large female Peregrine for a while right over the farm. At this spot, and everywhere else too, Red Grouse were present in large numbers and came very close...




Sated with our views here we drove back to Commondale where RLB's #3 and #4 showed well together viewed from the road. Who would have thought it, 4 Rough legs in a morning!

And to those who thought that the Common Rough legged Buzzard at Wooler 2 years ago looked good, I think that this trip is a must.

Superb birds.

4 comments:

John Malloy said...

Had my first rough leg there in the early 2000's - took 4.5 hours for the single bird to be located on a very cold December day - looks like its worth another visit though! Great account and pics Stu

Emma Anderson said...

Great sight, Stewart. The grouse picture is excellent too.

abbey meadows said...

Nice shots Stew...real ones!!! Lovely Grouse pic.

Trent Duval said...

Great shots Stewart and Commondale is one of my MUST VISIT areas when I visit my outlaws in Thornaby