Buzzard

[harveykeitel22]

anyone had any problems with buzzards killing polts?

[Lampwick]

anyone had any problems with buzzards killing polts?

Let's hope not, there's plenty of road kill about and I would be surprised if they were a big problem?

 

Great to see them in the East!

[Sprinter]

anyone had any problems with buzzards killing polts?

 

Yes

 

 

Let's hope not, there's plenty of road kill about and I would be surprised if they were a big problem?

 

Great to see them in the East!

 

Depends what you call a big problem, i estimate i was losing a poult a day to buzzards when they were in the pen, as the poults got braver and started wandering up hedge lines one of their number was lost every time they passed under a branch with a buzzard on at this point it was getting more towards 4-6 a day and there aint a damn thing you can do about it unless you are constantly patrolling your ground to put them off sitting where the poults move ie between wood and coverts. Problem with that is you put off the poults from going to the covert and they then start going where you dont want them to.

 

Breeding like topsy in Northants, not uncommon to see 4-6 buzzards in the air at once. Also have lots of kites, although they dont cause too much of a problem we have counted up to a dozen kites in the air over one of our afternoon drives at lunchtime. Unfortunately with all these "rare" raptors soaring our skies we also have legions of twitchers tramping over the land with cagouls and binoculars.

[markm]

anyone had any problems with buzzards killing polts?

 

 

Are you sure it is a buzzard?

 

Sparrow hawks are often the biggest problem.

 

What are you finding? Dead birds in the pen?

[M ROBSON]

We get Buzzards taking our poults outside the pens and ducks when they are first put out on the ponds.

 

It doesn't take the ducks long to realise whats going on and they soon seek saftey on the water if a Buzzard comes near. the Pheasants are a little slower to catch on but they do learn eventually!

 

Buzzards will eat a variety of food and will always take the easiest option, roadkill or anything already dead! But if their numbers are high enough in an area they WILL hunt and kill live prey, Rabbits, Gamebirds, Pigeons....etc

 

I've watched a Buzzard swoop after a fully grown cock Pheasant in the past, it missed, but only by inches!

 

Tie old CD's on fishing line from tree branches so they spin in the wind and flash, that helps keep them from flying through the pen.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

[Piebob]

We get Buzzards taking our poults outside the pens and ducks when they are first put out on the ponds.

 

It doesn't take the ducks long to realise whats going on and they soon seek saftey on the water if a Buzzard comes near. the Pheasants are a little slower to catch on but they do learn eventually!

 

Buzzards will eat a variety of food and will always take the easiest option, roadkill or anything already dead! But if their numbers are high enough in an area they WILL hunt and kill live prey, Rabbits, Gamebirds, Pigeons....etc

 

I've watched a Buzzard swoop after a fully grown cock Pheasant in the past, it missed, but only by inches!

 

Tie old CD's on fishing line from tree branches so they spin in the wind and flash, that helps keep them from flying through the pen.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

 

It'll be interesting to see if any cull licenses get issued in Scotland this year. I won't be holding my breath though.

[ollie]

We have a net on our release pen for the first few months; however, I have saw Buzzards taking wild poults (poults from last years birds) and as someone has already said you can't do a thing about it. last spring I saw 7 in the air at the one time about a mile away from our shoot.

[Eskdale hawks]

We get Buzzards taking our poults outside the pens and ducks when they are first put out on the ponds.

 

It doesn't take the ducks long to realise whats going on and they soon seek saftey on the water if a Buzzard comes near. the Pheasants are a little slower to catch on but they do learn eventually!

 

Buzzards will eat a variety of food and will always take the easiest option, roadkill or anything already dead! But if their numbers are high enough in an area they WILL hunt and kill live prey, Rabbits, Gamebirds, Pigeons....etc

 

I've watched a Buzzard swoop after a fully grown cock Pheasant in the past, it missed, but only by inches!

 

Tie old CD's on fishing line from tree branches so they spin in the wind and flash, that helps keep them from flying through the pen.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

 

 

Buzzards will only take poults up to a certain size then they lose interest. As for a buzzard attempting to take on a fully grown cock pheasant I find it hard to believe. I do not doubt what you say you saw! You see, It is all in the feet! Although the buzzard is a relativly large bird in the air it's feet are tiny comapared with those of a male Harris' Hawk or Red tailed Hawk. I doubt very much that the buzzard would have had any seriouse intentions of taking a fully grown Cock pheasant. It just doesn't have the means to deal with such a powerful prey item! You are right in the fact that buzzards are " Lazy" hunters and live mainly of carrion and small prey items including small rabbits. I have never seen a Buzzard take a pigeon again these are to fast on the wing for a buzzard, Best leave the pigeons to the professionals such as the Peregrine, Gos & sparrow hawk. The problem with game birds is that their release happens to clash with the Buzzards breeding time. Fresh young poults are an easy prey item to feed growing youngsters and newly fledged eyasses just lerning to hunt. One of the biggest culprates around release pens is usually the Tawny Owl!! Again these will only take poults to a certain size. And before anyone starts, I have been involved with shooting all my life, I have worked alongside Gamekeepers, Lived in a wood for 14yrs with a release pen less than 50yrds from the Cottage so I know what goes on at release time and I have picked up on a regular basis. I am also a falconer. I see both sides of the coin and keep a happy balance between both!

[shakin stevens]

the pheasants seam to be ok on our patch, its the patridge they bother the most you know when

they out in the game cover, because somtimes more than 4 buzzards are up above taking a look.

[harveykeitel22]

thinl i will try the CD' s on fishing line job

[Browning]

I've always had problems with Buzzards taking poults, maybe losing 1 a day in one of the pens. I've actually seen a Buzzard sat on poults in the pen on

many occasions.

 

Too many of the blighters around in Northants!

 

Probably as much of a problem is owls, as these also take poults when they are first released.

 

My old mentor showd me a trick of cutting the flat nail head off a 4" nail, and hammering one into the top of each pen post.

This stops them sitting on the posts in wait for a poult.

 

The old CD's on a length of string also works well.

Edited July 29, 2010 by Browning

[webber]

I can confirm that CDs hung up around the pen do detract birds of prey. It is important to remember that they do deteriorate and need changing after a couple of years.

 

I also agree that 6" nails tapped into the top of the pen fence posts prevent birds of prey from perching on the post. Remember to cut the nail heads off at an angle with bolt cutters after hammering in the nail an inch or so.

 

I've found that diversionary feeding works well. Its a good idea to start a week or two prior to the arrival of the poults. Rabbits, shot or snared are placed as far away from the pen as possible, but with easy access. Some will be taken by fox, which obviously presents an opportunity to snare or shoot the fox. Its important to keep up the diversionary feeding more or less until the birds go to wood, and keep feeding the same place provided the rabbit is being taken. Its a good idea to try and access the number of Buzzards on your shoot and ensure that you start with roughly the same number of feed sites. If you can't keep up with the number of rabbits required you can easily cut one in half with a spade. Ian and I virtually irradicated the rabbits on the Delph due to our diversionary feeding, but we lost very few poults to Buzzard.

 

webber

[M ROBSON]

One thing I am certain of is that Buzzards will behave differently in areas where they number greatly than they will where their population is sparse. If they don't hunt live quarry around here they will starve, there's so many compeating for food.

 

I hear from folk all the time that Buzzards will rarely hunt live prey yet I see this weekly in my area. I work 20 weeks a year as a pigeon guide and use dead bird decoys on cradles, bouncers and magnets and have watched Buzzards attack all 3 of these items. YES, I HAVE SEEN A BUZZARD ATTACK A PIGEON MAGNET! But they will more commonly dive on the dead bird cradles.

It's common here to see DOUBLE figures of Buzzards in one place. I once counted 18 feeding at the back of a tractor while ploughing a field, not the behaviour of a normal bird of prey, fighting for scraps amongst the crows and seagulls!!

 

Cheers,

Mark.

[shotgun tim]

i too have seen a buzzard take a full grown cock phesant,it was waiting in a tree then just droped onto it as the phesant walked passed

[al4x]

I can confirm that CDs hung up around the pen do detract birds of prey. It is important to remember that they do deteriorate and need changing after a couple of years.

 

I also agree that 6" nails tapped into the top of the pen fence posts prevent birds of prey from perching on the post. Remember to cut the nail heads off at an angle with bolt cutters after hammering in the nail an inch or so.

 

I've found that diversionary feeding works well. Its a good idea to start a week or two prior to the arrival of the poults. Rabbits, shot or snared are placed as far away from the pen as possible, but with easy access. Some will be taken by fox, which obviously presents an opportunity to snare or shoot the fox. Its important to keep up the diversionary feeding more or less until the birds go to wood, and keep feeding the same place provided the rabbit is being taken. Its a good idea to try and access the number of Buzzards on your shoot and ensure that you start with roughly the same number of feed sites. If you can't keep up with the number of rabbits required you can easily cut one in half with a spade. Ian and I virtually irradicated the rabbits on the Delph due to our diversionary feeding, but we lost very few poults to Buzzard.

 

webber

 

 

your diversionary feeding should work a treat webber, especially if you've shot the rabbits with a shotgun and they contain lead you'll be contributing to the figures of buzzards getting lead poisoning and helping people who are trying to get a lead ban

 

We have issues and a keeper on the shoot I beat on witnessed a buzzard perching on top of a feeder and just dropping onto poults when it fancied a feed so any of this they only eat carion is poo. The other issue is once they are out they will scatter them well by scaring the bejesus out of them. Not much you can do but lines over pens does help

[Browning]

It's common here to see DOUBLE figures of Buzzards in one place. I once counted 18 feeding at the back of a tractor while ploughing a field, not the behaviour of a normal bird of prey, fighting for scraps amongst the crows and seagulls!!

 

Jeez I thought we had it bad in Northants Mark!

 

The most I've seen together was 13 circling on a thermal whilst I was out feeding one day a couple of years ago.

[MITCHF]

Yep, killing here.

Only very limited kills, a couple a day.

They're a lazy hunter so not a prolific problem.

They're more of a frustration when they constantly harrass a pen, the poults get spooky, doesn't help in the first week

 

Spectacular looking bird close up

Edited July 29, 2010 by MITCHF

[harveykeitel22]

they have defo spooked all my pheasants

[anser2]

I often wonder how many of the people who claim buzzards take game see the bird kill it or is it more likely they come across a dead individual and feed on it. I have spent the past 15 years studying buzzards for maybe 400 hours a year. Its part of my job. In Norfolk we now have a lot of common buzzards and on my shoot I have 13 pairs nesting yet I have yet to see one take a game bird of any sort.

 

I have seen them feeding on dead pheasants after a shoot and on road kills , but never seen one kill a pheasant. Apart from watching the birds hunt I also sort through their pellets and half eaten kills at the nest. I find about 50% of their diet are voles , 10% frogs and about 30% rabbits including fully grown individuals. The bulk of the remainder of the diet is made up on beetles and other large insects. Once I saw a buzzard with a half grown coot . However there is one exception. One pair seen to specialise on catching crows and jays. By the time the young fledged In mid June , I found the remains of 24 crows and 2 jays under the nest. I am not saying they might take the odd gamebird chick\poult , but its not a common occurrence in my experience. As they can fly well with full grown rabbits how is it we do not see them flying about with pheasants in their talons.

 

For any keeper who loses a few pouts its easy to blame the buzzard. Correct sighting of a release pen and having the correct habitat \ cover for the young gamebirds once they are released should stop any problems that might occur. One of the estates I survey have 3 pairs of marsh harriers , 8 pairs of common buzzards .plus a number of kestrels , hobby and sparrowhawks on their wild bird shoot. Yet they still manage 10 days shooting a year with most days having 100 + bags and a couple of big 400 bird days. Get your habitat and management right and birds of prey are not usually a problem to lowland game. The one exception to this is the goshawk. They cant tackle a cock pheasant , but are well able to take hen birds, indeed will target them as I found out this summer when a pair moved onto my shoot. But the sight of such a great bird hunting the woodland rides more than makes up for the loss of a few dozen pheasants. The answer to the problem is simple - rear a few more pheasants.

[Piebob]

I think Mark R is spot on - it seems to be a local thing. Where there are loads of buzzards then they are forced to take on prey that "experts" claim they are unable to do.

 

I agree that good habitat mgt, feeding and pen placement are critical, but I think there are a lot of people who don't appreciate the vast numbers of buzzards I see local, and not so local, to me. The message I hear from others in Scotland is the same.

 

Some sporting estates up here have vast numbers of pens and tens of thousands of birds. One estate near here catches-up more birds than anser2s estate shoots!

 

A buzzard attacked by best mates wife as she was cycling along a country road! When he got to her with his van, the bleeding had just about stopped but her head and face were literally covered in blood. But that could never happen, right? When I've mentioned this to keepers I meet, none of them have been surprised and often have similar tales and stories. Yet the "experts" know better

[CharlieT]

Having just read this thread I thought I would look out of the back door and see how many Buzzards I could count in the air over our largest release pen which I can see from my garden.

 

27 I can count looking through bino's and I can assure the doubters that at the moment they are living off poults.

 

Believe me in some areas buzzards are a greater threat then foxes over a 12 month period. They may look magnificent but they are a real problem and the number they take has to be factored into the number of poults we release.

 

I can assure the doubters that they will and do take pheasants of all sizes through to fully grown cocks. I have high seats by our pens and often watch them take live healthy birds ignoring the rabbits left out for their breakfast !!!.

[Browning]

The problem is that the 'experts' are mostly about protecting Buzzards, so only see (or report) what they want to.

 

Meanwhile those of us that are about protecting our poults see the buzzards as they really are.

 

Most of the rabbits that I shoot are left as buzzard fodder, yet still they take the difficult to get at live poults, and

leave the easy dead rabbits.

Edited July 30, 2010 by Browning

[al4x]

do you get the same issues with Kites as well Browning, we are overrun by one or the other usually, seems like the Kites push the Buzzards out when they are about. Nice to see but do spook everything gamewise

[Browning]

We only see the odd Kite around here, I guess they haven't worked their way this far north yet?

 

I do have problems with Sparrow Hawks around the Partridge pens though.

 

Tawny Owls seem to harrass the Pheasant poults a lot as well.

[ollie]

We have a net on our release pen which we keep on until about a month before shooting, this way the pheasant poults grow enough that Buzzards aren't as much of a problem. However, they still occassionaly take a fully grown bird. Do any of you ever think that keepers will be ever to control the Buzzards again? I by no means would call myself an expert but I think the population is getting out of hand.