2023-The Year of the Honey-buzzard-Updated 

Honey-buzzards are one of my favourites, a true birders bird. 

I've had some of my best ever encounters with them this year probably aided by an extremely successful breeding season in Scotland. 

The run of encounters started with a visit to a well studied Scottish breeding site on 7th August when Honeys were almost constantly on view. A min of 5 different adults were seen, often close overhead. Some lovely behaviour observed including wing clapping display and a bird carrying wasp comb. Biggest surprise was Juvenile Honey on the wing. This felt on the early side for a fledged Juv and on speaking to others it turned out it was the earliest ever in the study area! Other observers recorded two Juvs here the next day. 

The next encounter was a real surprise, driving a quiet back road in the Highlands  on August 22nd after a short break with Carina. I glanced up to see a buzzard with suspiciously deep, fluid wing beats flying towards us. Fortunately I was able pull off the road by a forest clearing and we were treated to close views of a Juvenile Honey Buzzard flying low overhead, which then turned around and came back to check us out! 

The day after this, August 23rd, I was still on Annual Leave and savouring the prospect of a Visible Migration watch at my Fife patch of Ferry Hills in ideal fair weather and light south-west winds. What I didn't expect was two Juv Honey-buzzards already on active migration! Both birds gave good views as they slowly moved SW, one at 12:39 and the other at 15:45. 

The next day August 24th I was back at Ferry Hills and while walking up the track to the watch point I noticed as large raptor approaching with the now familiar flexible wing action-another Honey! This one a very dark, almost black Juv and surprisingly early in the morning at 06:45. To put this into context Honey-buzzard is a very scarce bird in Fife and previous to this I had only seen one at Ferry Hills.  

That completed my run of Honey sightings. Given they have had a good year, I was somewhat greedy in hoping for a few more during my regular Ferry Hills watches as they can  pass through throughout September. But I have no complaints!

All above: Bird 1 August 23rd

Bird 2 August 23rd

Bird on August 24th 

Update 

By late September I thought I had run out of time to get any more Honey Buzzards passing through Ferry Hills. The latest I'd ever had down south was on 2nd October on the Isle of Wight. But on 30th September during a cracking day for migration, a Juv Honey Buzzard appeared low out of nowhere right in front of me, I think it had been perched in the trees around the gardens bordering the site! 

Great views as it got chased by a crow and then sparring with a Common Buzzard before it flew off South-west across the bridges to continue its epic migration.