Big predatory bird in may back garden

[Tweety Gee]

I got this old tree stump in my back garden, it is covered in ivy and slowly rots away. Yesterday and today we noticed a large bird doing strange things. It was sitting on it, looking to the sides, but sometimes it would go behind my line of sight and all I could see was the birds wings flapping about as if it was fighting something. It was very strange, especially as it happened a couple of days in a row. My wife went up there and saw that there were pieces of bee hive (or maybe wasp?) on the floor. So it seems that our winged friend was fiesting on the insects or maybe the larvae? Anyway, here are some images.

[rolf]

Crumbs, that's a result TG, looks like a Honey Buzzard - Pernis apivorus.

[Tweety Gee]

Yep, that makes sense as he was digging up a hive. I just hope he stays and finishes off those wasps.

[ladylouise62]

Fantastic - what a bit of luck! Hopefully it was Wasp rather than Bee - we need all the bees we canget!

[Tweety Gee]

I think I need to invest in a slightly better camera, what I am using is a vey basic digital camera. I get quite a lot of interesting wildlife, but usually they are too far - I need a zoom.

[ladylouise62]

It's very addictive once you start watching, isn't it?

[rolf]

Well if you want to get some reach for a reasonable price, look at the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ18, it has an 18x optical zoom.

[ladylouise62]

I've heard good things about this camera.