Return of the Honey Buzzard

Nick Rossiter

The Honey Buzzard Pernis apivorus has acquired a reputation in Britain as an exotic breeding species, on the north-western edge of its breeding range. The deforestation of Britain was until the early 20th century an almost continuous process, resulting in only 4.3% of the country being covered by trees in 1881 (Simmons, 2001, p.199), compared to 30-40% in most other north European countries. Such a sparse coverage of trees made it very difficult for birds, such as the Honey Buzzard and Goshawk Accipiter gentilis which require large forested territories, to become established. In addition persecution of all raptor species, particularly by game preservation interests from the 1790s onwards, eliminated all broad-winged raptors from much of Britain (Rossiter, 1999). Both these adverse factors have recently been ameliorated. A programme of extensive afforestation started in the 1920s with the establishment of the Forestry Commission. By the early 21st century, tree coverage had greatly increased in northern Britain (Forestry Commission, 2002) with 17.2% in Scotland, the highest for 700 years, and 35% in Northumberland. Persecution of broad-winged raptors sharply declined during the 1990s with the Common Buzzard Buteo buteo population increasing rapidly in Northumberland from one pair in 1990 to at least 90 pairs in a provisional estimate from the Winter Atlas Project run from 1996-99.

There are indications that the Honey Buzzard was commoner in Northumberland in the 18th and early 19th centuries than in most of the 20th century. Rossiter (1998) compiled details of 58 individuals recorded from 1825-1996 with the highest numbers of 0.95 birds per year in the 1830s and 1840s and the lowest numbers of 0.15 birds per year from the 1910s to the 1960s. Hancock (1874) confirmed breeding once in 1841 but also suspected that it occurred more frequently than was generally supposed.

It was against this background that two rather incredulous observers (Nick Rossiter and John Dutton) found that the Honey Buzzard had again occupied territory in 1993 and went on to breed successfully in 1994 raising one young. The initial accounts are worth recounting.

The 13th June 1993 was a warm and sunny day. At 11:00 in this fine weather, a pair of buzzards was soaring over a well-wooded area where a burn fed into a major river. This was strange because the area was already occupied by a pair of Common Buzzards which were still progressing and went on to fledge one juvenile in August. There was no interaction with this resident pair. Both birds appeared to be lightweight (small body, long wings) and pale phase with extensive white areas around the tips of the wings and prominent black wavy lines down the length of the wing. Each was missing a single inner primary feather on the right wing. One was noted to have a russet tail. The behaviour of the birds was striking. Soaring on level wings, one bird would rise above the other which would then rapidly ascend, interact with its partner at close range and then sink again. This went on for several minutes before the birds finally sank back into the trees below. At the time we (NR, JD) assumed that this was a strange pair of Common Buzzards perhaps looking for a new territory in mid-summer. It was not until 15 months later that it was realised that the notes taken indicated a pair of Honey Buzzards. No further observations of this pair were made this year so the outcome was unknown.

On 30th July 1994 at 16:00 NR was walking through a wood in the same general area. A strange bird of prey was flushed at 20m range. It looked like a game bird at first because of its large size, uniform ruddy-brown colour, long extended neck and head, long tail and generally elongated appearance. However, when it gained height, it was clearly a large broad-winged raptor but unfortunately it was soon out of view behind the trees. The wing action was different to Common Buzzard with much deeper wing beats with the wings looking more flexible. The bird was flushed from the ground and NR confidently expected to find a 'kill' but a detailed search of the area produced nothing. Earlier the pair of resident Common Buzzards had been seen in territory where they went on to raise one young.

The critical day was to be the 18th September 1994. At 10:30 in the area where the bird had been flushed, a pale-phase buzzard flew N, taking off from the wood to the SW of us and flying very purposefully N with deep flaps and elastic wing beats. It flew to quite a height then continued in more level flight with occasional glides with depressed primary tips on level wings. It was escorted for some time by two Jackdaws Corvus monedula. It travelled an amazing distance in a straight line before being lost to sight of about 3km. Its plumage was dark grey-brown on top, pale below, with an obvious striated pattern on the underwings. No more detail could be observed as the bird was flying away from us. Honey Buzzard was now very definitely on our minds as we began to connect the various events. Of assistance was the time that NR had spent in late August in 1993 and in 1994 at Tanger, Morocco, seeing many raptors on passage including Honey Buzzards.

Later that same day at 15:00, a paintball game started in a nearby wood. One buzzard was seen flying S over the area. JD saw it first and exclaimed that a strange bird of prey was approaching: "looks like a buzzard but not the same''. This bird gave good views. It flew past us at 100m, soared some 800m to the S and then came back directly overhead. Compared to a Common Buzzard, the flight action was less jerky with smooth, deep wing action. In its ascent, it tended to give three successive flaps followed by a glide with wings level and primaries held forward to a marked extent. It gained height very quickly in a buoyant soar with some agility shown in flight. Compared to Common Buzzard, the bird had a longer tail, longer neck and a smaller head. The wings appeared longer and narrower with a distinct pinch on the inside of the trailing edge. The plumage was dark grey-brown on top and very pale underneath, particularly on the outer wing. The linings of the wing were dark and there were a number of dark wavy lines running the length of the underwing. The dark rectangular carpal mark was present but not very conspicuous.

This first bird was then joined by another also flying S from the same wood. This second bird was slightly larger and more ruddy brown but also pale phase and with a long tail, long neck, small head, long wings and conspicuous transverse dark lines on the underside of the wings. The two birds interacted. One glided slightly below the other, the lower bird then rose up smartly to almost connect with the higher bird, the upper bird showing its talons to the lower bird but not grappling with it, and the lower bird then sinking again. This happened three to four times. There were no calls. The birds then returned quickly to the wood. A number of photographs had been taken to help with the identification.

On 21st September 1994, the site was watched from 11:00-15:00 by NR. The two birds seen on 18th did not reappear but another bird was seen at 14:00 flying slowly into the wood from where the other two birds had been flushed on 18th. This new bird had a straight-line flight with dedicated flapping action. The wings were long, the action was elastic and in short, rather breathless pauses between the flaps, the wings were held level. The neck and head protruded and the tail was long. The outstanding feature of this bird was its darkness being dark brown on top and underneath with the only pale areas being the base of the primaries, more obvious on the underside, and a just visible narrow white patch on the upper tail coverts. This bird was thought to be a juvenile on account of its excessive flapping action and the very dark plumage, including the primary tips. Breeding had apparently been confirmed for the Honey Buzzard in Northumberland for the first time since 1841.

After this tentative start, the species quickly became more widespread, initially due to an influx of new birds rather than of birds bred in Northumberland, as young Honey Buzzards do not return to Europe from their African wintering areas until their third calendar year. Details are given in Table 1. Four to six sites were occupied from 1995-1999 but productivity was low at around one juvenile per pair each year. From 2000-2001 the colonisation became less tenuous with productivity in 2000 at the highest yet of 1.6 juveniles per pair and an upward move in the population in 2001 to nine pairs. Roberts (1999, 2001), from his studies on a similar colonisation in Wales starting in 1991, thought that the species was over-looked in Britain and noted a less specialised diet than generally believed, including frogs and young birds, as well as wasps. The provisional and incomplete results of the Honey Buzzard breeding survey (Batten, 2001) revealed 61 occupied sites in Britain in 2000. If the same detection rate was found as for another elusive summer visitor, the Hobby Falco subbuteo (Clements, 2001), then the actual British population of the Honey Buzzard might exceed 300 pairs. There is of course the open question as to whether the Northumberland population is higher than the nine pairs found. The notional study area of 10 10-km squares contains 16,600 hectares of woodland in the valleys. Obviously much more suitable woodland exists in the county and the potential for a hidden population elsewhere cannot be ignored.

Table 1: Numbers of Honey Buzzards found from 1993-2001

Acknowledgments: I am very grateful for help in the fieldwork in the first part of the study from John Dutton. Some discussions with Steve Roberts have also been very useful in giving perspective on the current status in Britain.

References:

Batten, L A, European Honey buzzard Survey 2000 and 2001: preliminary results and requests for further surveys, British Birds 94(3) 143-144 (2001).

Clements, R, The Hobby in Britain: a New Population Estimate, British Birds 94(9) 402-408 (2001).

Forestry Commission, Scotland has more Trees than since Robert the Bruce, Press Release no.3579, 21 April (2002).

Hancock, J, A Catalogue of the Birds of Northumberland and Durham, Nat. Hist. Trans. Newcastle 6 (1874).

Roberts, S J, Lewis, M S, & Williams, I T, Breeding Honey-buzzards in Britain, British Birds 92(7) 326-344 (1999).

Roberts, S J, & Coleman, M, Some Observations on the Diet of European Honey-buzzards in Britain, British Birds, 94(9) 433-436 (2001).

Rossiter, N, The Historical Status of the Honey Buzzard in Northumberland, Birds in Northumbria 1997, 121-125 (1998).

Rossiter, N, Northumberland's Birds in the 18th and early 19th Centuries: the Contribution of John Wallis (1714-1793), Transactions Natural History Society of Northumbria, 59(3) 93-136 (1999).

Simmons, L G, An Environmental History of Great Britain, Edinburgh University Press (2001).

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This paper was originally published as:

Rossiter, Nick, Return of the Honey Buzzard, Birds in Northumbria 2001, Northumberland & Tyneside Bird Club, 169-172 (2002).

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© Copyright Nick Rossiter 2002