Psilos
Bird Photography |
Raptorius |
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The place is Slimbridge in Gloucester,
the time late morning, in the week following Christmas 2008. A cloudless
sky has brought a widespread frost and the dawn has broken clear and
bright. Out on the floodplain everything is calm. Geese, Wigeon, Teal
and Pintail graze contendly with only the soft whistle of the Wigeon
carrying on a gentle breeze. It is a peaceful scene. Birds are feeding
but watchful eyes are everywhere. Watching from the grass and up in
the sky. Any minute now the peace is about to be shattered. |
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Suddenly the flocks erupt. The high pitched
alarm of the Wigeon echoes around the plain and all the birds take to
the skies. There is usually only one reason why the birds would be this
alarmed and we scan the skies for the culprit. From the tight flock
smaller flocks break free and birds fly off in all directions, chaos
and confusion reigns. There can be no doubt that there is danger out
there very close by. |
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Out of the confusion flying low a sleek
dark bird appears. A female, she has made no kill and we watch as she
circles the plain. Then slowly she banks and comes back towards us and
leads our eye to the biggest surprise of the day. Somehow whilst our
eyes were elsewhere a male bird has swooped in and made a kill. Prompty
she landed before him. Being the bigger of the two the female wastes
no time in taking the kill from the male and settles down to her meal. |
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As the birds ate some of the Wigeon and
Pintail slowly returned and made a tentative landing. However the Peregrines
had not yet finished their hunt and so the Wigeon took to the skies
once more. |
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Then as if the Wigeon didnt have enough
to contend with their approached danger from behind. |
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A raptor of a very different shape was
circling and surveying the scene. The common Buzzard doesnt usually
hunt or catch birds but it only takes a flock of already nervous birds
before the skies are full once more. Two birds are present and spend
most of the time sitting on the grass watching. As the Peregrines move
off their kill the Buzzards move in and finish it off. |
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The poor Wigeon didnt know whether they
were coming or going. Pretty soon the Peregrines moved off but there
were signs that they were still around further round where we couldnt
see as large flocks would suddenly come flying in but at least for a
while in out little part of the flood plain calm had been restored. |
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