User blog:Andrewself/Brent Res Jan 9th

Hoping to get something new in the cold weather. And with a biting NE wind it was really cold out so I was quite relieved to get to the hide for some shelter. There was still some large patches of clear water amongst the ice but despite scanning several times I couldn't find anything new. And so the skies, plenty more scanning produced some flocks of Redwing & Fieldfare over but nothing else. As I was thinking of leaving at 11.30 I suddenly noticed a lot of birds flying around over the South Bank - must be a raptor I thought and quickly picked up a large bird of prey being mobbed by a Crow. I got the other people in the hide onto the bird and we could soon see that it was a Common Buzzard. It picked up a few more Crows in pursuit as it crossed the reservoir and then it seemed to drop down on the North Bank. Looking it up in the Brent Book, I discovered this was the first ever winter record!

We left the hide a few minutes later and picked the Buzzard up again, flying over the North Bank with about 5 Crows hassling it. I walked back along the North Bank and just as I was leaving the reservoir I saw it again, still being chased by Crows. It got up higher and flew off west. A nice bird to get so early on my yearlist, new total 62 species.