Honey Buzzard photo © Robert Goedegebuur

Robert's website

By Martin Birch

11:09. LINCS c22 HONEY BUZZARDS S.THRU GIBRALTAR POINT BY 10:45

11:15. EAST YORKSHIRE SPURN: 14 HONEY BUZZARDS THRU ALSO 2 OSPREYS, MARSH HARRIER

During the second half of September an unprecedented influx of Honey Buzzards (Pernis apivorus) arrived along the East Coast of Britain. Numbers ran into many hundreds of birds with sightings coming, it seemed, from almost anywhere where a birder bothered to look up. Many birders found themselves overjoyed to be adding Honey Buzzard to their garden and local patch lists. (Identifying Honey Buzzards: click here) But where did they come from and what caused this influx ?

We live in strange times:

The first inkling that something strange might be happening occurred on the morning of Wednesday 20th September when birders at Spurn in Yorkshire and at Gibralter Point in Lincolnshire reported 14 and 22 birds respectively. Other birds, singles or small groups of two or three, were soon being reported drifting over other coastal sites in Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

Some fifty-plus Honey Buzzards in one morning was in itself outstanding and after just one day, it was still possible that good breeding success in the UK, perhaps coupled with some undiscovered breeding sites might explain the origin of these birds. But as more and more sightings were reported over the days that followed and a more complete picture of the phenomenon began to emerge it was clear that we had witnessed a major displacement of Honey Buzzards from the continent – a first for Britain (click here)?

And they keep on coming:

During the six days from the 20th to the 26th some 800 sightings were recorded through the pagers with peaks of 240 on the 23rd and 190 on the 25th. Even allowing for duplication, there were clearly many, many more birds arriving during and after the initial sightings on the 20th. Indeed sightings through the pagers were probably just a fraction of the birds being sighted.

During those first six days the largest numbers seem to have been recorded in Essex with perhaps as many as 100 different birds recorded in the county. Birders at Abberton Reservoir noted up to 42 different birds on the 22nd. But the Honey Buzzards weren’t alone; Ospreys, Common Buzzards and a few Montagu’s Harriers have also been caught in the displacement.

Interpreting the influx:

Using information from the pagers we have tried to collate the records in a meaningful way to provide surfbirders with an overview of the influx. The following animated maps show the daily reports of Honey Buzzards throughout the period from the 20th September.

(IF THE MAP ISN'T ANIMATING, HIT RE-LOAD/REFRESH ON YOUR BROWSER)

We’ll keep on adding them until the last Honey Buzzards leave our shores.

Looking back through the pager news, it appears that the first bird actually arrived on Fair Isle on the evening of the 18th, quickly followed by another bird in Scotland, this time at Aberdeen, on the 19th. Thereafter, however, almost all birds were reported no further north than Cleveland. This may reflect lower levels of observer coverage in Scotland, although if this were the case there presumably would have subsequently been more reports once it was clear that a mass influx had occurred. Therefore, unless birds arriving in the North were able to move south very quickly, it would appear Cleveland was the most northerly point for the vast majority of Honey Buzzards entering into the UK.

The maps above show the first main arrivals occurred on the 20th with concentrations arriving at Gibraltar and Spurn. These birds appeared to disperse inland on the 21st breaking into singles or small groups, whilst presumably new birds arrived at coastal sites in Suffolk. One bird makes it to Nanquidno in Cornwall!

By the 22nd, large numbers have accumulated at Abberton Reservoir (possibly as many as 40 birds) which could either be new arrivals or birds from the last two days now drifting south.

On the 23rd, there are scattered records from the Greater London area, whilst numbers at Abberton reduce. Up to seven Honey Buzzards appear along the north coast of Kent. The first bird reaches Wales and the Isles of Scilly. 18 birds are recorded moving through Loughborough, in the Midlands, during a six hour period.

Numbers appear to have dropped off on the 24th, perhaps as much a feature of it being a Monday with birders back in their offices, than any real drift back to the continent.

Thereafter, birds appear to be re-orienting themselves and heading south into Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and Dorset ready for the big crossing on the 30th.

Peak counts of birds drifting back to the continent on the 30th included an incredible 62 birds at Beachy Head, East Sussex, 37 over Portland, Dorset, 17 over Hengistbury Head, Dorset and 12 over Pagham Harbour, West Sussex. The good weather along the south coast coupled with weekend birders and a nearctic Cliff Swallow at Portland Bill helped to push today's count over the 300 mark.

Daily Records of Honey Buzzards

Wed 20th 75
Thurs 21st 65
Fri 22nd 135
Sat 23rd 210
Sun 24th 65
Mon 25th 200
Tues 26th 65
Wed 27th 70
Thurs 28th 85
Fri 29th 85
Sat 30th 300
Sun 1st 110

Viking invaders or the Battle of Britain – sixty years on ?

Whether the birds arrived from Scandinavia or from further south, perhaps Germany, can only be summised. There appear to have been very few sightings during this period of Honey Buzzards from the near continent (Holland, Belgium) which we might expect if they originated in Germany, but it is possible that coming from a point further east they drifted over without birders noticing.

Interestingly two German hot-air balloonists Heinrich Brachtendirf and Peter Wittman were blown for 560 miles from their home in Marle in Germany to Carnoustie, near Dundee in Scotland on Saturday by the strong winds. Covering the distance in 25 hours and arriving in the early hours of Sunday morning – were they part of the same effect that brought us the Honey Buzzards ?

But what of a Scandinavian displacement? Although Honey Buzzards are more confident than many other raptors of making a sea crossing, a journey from Scandinavia would presumably, have led to a more Northerly bias to the sightings. Moreover numbers of Honey Buzzards in Scandinavia would normally have dropped off significantly by the third week in September.

I’ll stick my neck out and suggest therefore that these birds had already crossed from Scandinavia into Germany where they were swept west by the strong easterlies displacing them over the North Sea and into Eastern Britain. Of those aged, almost all appear to have juveniles, suggesting as with other species that the most inexperienced birds were particularly prone to this displacement.

If these displaced birds are, therefore, the tail-end of the European breeding population which normally migrates through the Central Mediterranean, it will be interesting to see whether these birds, of which many are juveniles, now displaced to the west travel south and seek to cross into Africa through Gibraltar.

Tell your County bird recorder:

The arrival of pagers and the internet has given birders the ability to communicate falls of migrants "as they happen" enabling birders to check whether similar influxes are happening on their own patches and for national patterns, as in the case of these Honey Buzzards, to be assimilated relatively quickly. The numbers of Honey Buzzards recorded in the UK this autumn has undoubtedly been enhanced by technology – but despite the technology, it will be many months before the full picture of this autumn’s displacement is known. All observers of Honey Buzzards are therefore urged to submit their sightings to the relevant county recorder to enable an authoritative assessment of the scale and causes of this influx to be properly documented by the leading British journals.

But enough from me, I’m off to celebrate the Honey Buzzard that drifted over South Norwood this morning! Not a Cliff Swallow but it’s a patch lifer and you can’t ask for more than that !

Cheers

Martin

Identifying Honey Buzzards:

The Honey Buzzard is a shy and elusive species, as anyone who has looked for breeding birds will testify. With no more than 20 known breeding pairs in the UK, the Honey Buzzard is a rare sight indeed. Yet on the continent it is a fairly common breeding raptor with somewhere between 23-40,000 species thought to breed annually. Like the UK, it is a rare bird on the near-continent in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Honey Buzzard Breeding Distribution in Europe

To the experienced observer, Honey Buzzards are relatively easy to separate from Common Buzzards using a combination of features. Although there is great variability in plumage, typical Honey Buzzards are more strongly and regularly barred underneath with characteristic barring on the flight feathers. Honey Buzzards lack the light U on the breast of most Buzzards. They generally have a broader black band to the trailing edge of the wings with the black on the wing tip confined to the tips. At a distance, a silhouetted Honey Buzzard will, in comparison to Common Buzzard, appear distinctively small-headed on a protruding and narrower neck with longer narrower wings pinched in at the body. The tail is longer, although juvenile birds have shorter tails. When soaring the wings are held flat, whereas in Buzzard they are raised; whilst in active flight the wing-beats are considered to be soft, deep and elastic compared to the stiff winged flight of Common Buzzards.

A first for Britain?

In 1993 birders at Minsmere, Suffolk recorded 11 Honey Buzzards, 11 Common Buzzards, 2 Ospreys, 5 Marsh Harriers, 2 Black Kites, 17 Kestrels and 10 Sparrowhawks over a four-hour period on September 16th. Without pagers and the internet who else knew in time ?