Today was one of those strange days where I seemed to spend most of my time not really seeing anything worth photographing, but was lucky enough to have a small handful of encounters that more than made up for the down time. The star turns were a heron, a buzzard, and a welcome re-appearance in the garden by Bully Boy, the young fox. I’m going to stick with the buzzard for this entry, partly because I like the shots, but also because it’s the first time I’ve seen them share air space with flocks of swallows and house martins.

I’m not entirely convinced the smaller birds were mobbing the raptor but with so many young fledglings around they may have been more than usually defensive of their patch. If they were mobbing, their technique is rather less confrontational than the full-frontal attack mode so often adopted by gulls and corvids.

Now for the photos… (click on the image to enlarge)

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.