Mid February, traditionally the time of the year when I go looking for and generally fail to find Goshawks! If I'm lucky it's usually a tiny dot flying along atop the trees on a distant ridge line! However I felt confidant this time, after two weeks of rain, with no chance for the birds to get up and display, a sunny day with a bit of a breeze forecast, perfect conditions for Goshawks to come out and strut their stuff, usually secretive, lurking in the forest, February is their time to shine, so hopefully there would be loads of frustrated, horny Goshawks just waiting for the chance to get out and it's Valentines Day!! Gotta be a chance!!
I arrived on site, location withheld, not really out of concern for the birds, but there is little parking and I don't wanna annoy the locals and besides there are loads of places in the south of England where Goshawks can be seen! I realised i'd forgotten my scope!! Disaster! How else would I string those distant dots into Goshawks! I was a bit early, Goshawks usually don't get going til around 9.30ish in my experience, so I wandered the area! Typically the first bird i saw, apart from a Yellowhammer, which buggered off before I'd set up the camera, was a Goshawk!! Flew over my head, at treetop height!! Sadly my camera simply wouldn't focus on the Bugger, choosing instead to give me pin sharp pictures of various twigs and branches, denied!! I walked through the woods Marsh Tit, Nuthatch, Goldcrest and Bullfinch all seen or heard along with the commoner birds. Pictures were at a premium, with birds flitting about.
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| Chaffinch, nice to hear them singing! |
I left the woods with a view to get to some high ground to give me an all around vantage point to observe the anticipated Gosfest!! I ran into a herd of feisty Highland Cattle, they were host to a flock of several Pied Wagtail, however despite me conquering my completely sensible fear of the beasts, I didn't really get close enough to get very good pics of the birds!! The cattle were cute, but also fearsome!
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| Pied Wagtails |
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| My first Greenfinch of the year, doing his best to hide! |
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| Plenty of Robins |
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| Highland COOOO! |
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| Getting feisty, them horns look big when they start to head towards ya! |
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| Even more danger when there is a young un!! |
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| Possibly the most awesome one! |
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| Linnet |
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| Starlings several about! |
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| Bit arty! |
So I got to my chosen viewpoint, trees and the sun behind me with fine views over 3 different patches of woodland! It soon became obvious that my hopes had been realised with views of several Goshawks on the wing, but sadly distant!
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| Only a couple of pics at this point, bearing in mind what's coming😊, to give some idea of the distance the birds were, these pics have been cropped! |
All a bit frustrating, compounded when a Red Kite gave me a lovely close flyby, which was then followed by an equally close Buzzard. To be honest I was thinking the Gos needed to step up their game!
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| Red Kite |
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| Common Buzzard |
A couple of Deer wandered by!
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| Pretty sure it's a Fallow Deer |
I continued to scan, it soon became clear that my "Horny Goshawk" theory was spot on, they seemed to be all around! I observed plenty of interesting behaviour, including a bit of the rollercoaster display several skirmishes and lots of soaring! Still all frustratingly distant.
I'm moaning about the distances involved, but bearing in mind I've done Goshawk watches before where I've had one brief view in 5 hours, this really was astonishing stuff!!!
So I made a tactical decision to leave the high ground and head back to the car as this seemed to be where the best action was, risky, as I would have to walk through the woods but felt the chance of some closer pics was worth it!
A bit of a bonus was a nice showy Bullfinch as I headed through the trees!
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| Bullfinch |
The gamble paid off with stonking views of up to 5 Goshawks displaying, fighting and flying about above my head! Love it when a plan comes together! Just to clarify the background is genuine there really was a blue sky, almost as rare as Goshawks these days!😁
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| Even the camera started playing ball, getting this one through the canopy, possibly my favourite pic of the day! |
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| I didn't really get many pics of actual interactions! yes bloody useless although I very nearly dislocated my back getting these shots |
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| A Buzzard joined in the shenanigans |
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| Goshawk, Buzzard comparison shot, on the same thermal but no real interaction between them, several pairs of Buzzards seen ! |
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| Buzzard |
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| Think the streaking rather than barring indicates that this is a 1st year bird! |
Amazing morning by far the best session and views I've ever had of Goshawks, notoriously secretive and difficult to see!!!
