Common Buzzards are known to have bred on the wooded hillsides that surround Broadway at least since the post second World War years, albeit then in very small numbers.
The Buzzard has survived here to the present day as a very successful species, a well established and familiar sight around Broadway's picturesque countryside.
Occasions such as 23.02.99 and 11.04.99 showed me just how well the local Buzzard populous was fairing with counts of eight and ten birds respectively, grouped together at one time.
First evidence of breeding behaviour occurred on 22 03 99 with a territory-holding bird carrying a sprig of green pine back to a traditional nest site. This is often done to decorate a completed nest, be it old or new, a sigh perhaps to others that the nest site is occupied and chosen by the resident pair as their home for the coming season.
On 31 03 99 1 saw this particular pair mating at the nest site late in the morning. Yet again on 11.04 99 the pair were mating at the nest site at midday
Late afternoon on 27 05 99 at another nest site in another local wood I watched a pair collecting fresh larch branches to decorate a huge nest built in a sycamore tree.
Past surveys have shown how difficult it is to prove successful breeding if nest sites remain undetected. Often identification of juveniles is only possible with good close/clear views. However, during the summer of 1999 I managed to identify three fresh juveniles, all at different sites around Broadway.
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