Hare and buzzard

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
When I was on trailer cart, waiting for the combine, a couple of years ago, I watched several buzzards repeatedly picking up a leveret and dropping him from a height. The poor little fella was trying to make a run for it, rather than hiding under a straw swath. :(

They only left him alone when I ran round like a lunatic, waving my arms and shouting at them, probably giving the leveret a heart attack in the process.
It gave the combine driver a laugh anyway.
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
A buzzard could never take a hare as it would be a job and a half even for a big female goshawk, but they will occasionally have a 'go' at something out of their class in the same way a salmon (which doesn't eat in fresh water) will take an angler's fly, more out of annoyance and habit than hunger.
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
Leverets are a major target of buzzards, we have too many round us but as usual idiot "experts" made them protected when they were rare but dont allow culling when too many, of course it is the farmers fault when hares are near extinct😬😬
I heard someone say recently that abundance of predators means abundance of prey. If you don't have many hares but lots of buzzards, they must be eating something else.

Humans are the only animals to hunt things to extinction.
 

robs1

Member
I heard someone say recently that abundance of predators means abundance of prey. If you don't have many hares but lots of buzzards, they must be eating something else.

Humans are the only animals to hunt things to extinction.
Boom or bust, too many predators and they almost remove one prey, the predator then dies from starvation hopefully allowing the prey to rebuild numbers and the cycle repeats, as long as one doesn't die out completely
 

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
Buzzards here murder any leverets they can find, breaks my heart to see. I have noticed that since we have had an influx of red kites that buzzard numbers seemed to have dropped which is great news.
It would be nothing unusual to count 14+ buzzards in a thermal at a time.
Surprising how brave buzzards are, my JR spotted one that had a rabbit on the ground, off he went into the field, where he tried to take the rabbit off the buzzard, which he did but the buzzard didnt give it up easily, amazing to witness.
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
Buzzards here murder any leverets they can find, breaks my heart to see. I have noticed that since we have had an influx of red kites that buzzard numbers seemed to have dropped which is great news.
It would be nothing unusual to count 14+ buzzards in a thermal at a time.
Surprising how brave buzzards are, my JR spotted one that had a rabbit on the ground, off he went into the field, where he tried to take the rabbit off the buzzard, which he did but the buzzard didnt give it up easily, amazing to witness.
I have noticed that too, and watched the kites clearing buzzards from their new territory.
 

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
One spring I saw a hare putting itself between a leveret and a buzzard. What attracted my attention in the first place was seeing the hare sitting bolt upright, making it look as big as possible.
I witnessed a hare putting herself between a leveret (under a straw swath) and a fox all through a thermal scope, unfortunately I didnt realise what was happening until it was too late and the fox had the leveret, as soon as I knew I dropped the fox but it was too late.
The hare was running up to the fox, jumping and hitting it with its back legs as it turned in mid air.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
I heard someone say recently that abundance of predators means abundance of prey. If you don't have many hares but lots of buzzards, they must be eating something else.

Humans are the only animals to hunt things to extinction.

No, they die out when there isn't enough food left, or they move on to hunt elsewhere.

We have far fewer buzzards here than we did 5 years ago, and regularly find the remains of them in the fields (and no, nobody here is shooting or poisoning them).
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
No, they die out when there isn't enough food left, or they move on to hunt elsewhere.

We have far fewer buzzards here than we did 5 years ago, and regularly find the remains of them in the fields (and no, nobody here is shooting or poisoning them).
Interesting, as mostly birds of prey do seem to be on the increase. I wonder if they are still recovering from the ddt related population collapse?

What do you put your local population decline down to?
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Interesting, as mostly birds of prey do seem to be on the increase. I wonder if they are still recovering from the ddt related population collapse?

What do you put your local population decline down to?

They were everywhere 8 years ago, far too many for the food available I suspect. I remember counting 18 buzzards and 6 kites in one 12 ac field when I was drilling swedes about then. Still plenty about, just not quite such ridiculous numbers, thankfully.

I put their decline down to being, without doubt, the dumbest birds that ever flew. A crow eating a tasty bit of roadkill will fly off as a car approaches. A buzzard will look up at the car and wait for it to hit him. :facepalm:
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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