A RARE raptor visitor — thought to be a rough-legged buzzard — has been reported in the Tamar Valley.
A resident who writes a nature column in his local parish magazine said he and his family first noticed a rather noisy buzzard that had been flying over their house. It was being mobbed by two local buzzards, and they saw that it was generally lighter underneath than the normal buzzard.
'The carpel region was darker and the lower part of the abdomen, and there was a single broad stripe across the tail,' he said.
By climbing the valley sides he was able to get a glimpse of the upper half of the body and it had a lighter patch on its rump, which does not appear on the 'common' buzzard.
Some weeks later he managed to see what the bird was famous for. 'While cycling along I noticed it was flying alongside, eventually settling on a branch, and it showed off a pair of long, feathered legs just like the characteristic pose that appears in all the books — like it was wearing a pair of long knickers,' he said.
'We have been bird-watching for many years and always feel a certain amount of caution when identifying a species new to me, but from all the books we have we're certain it was a rough-legged buzzard.'
A hobby and a merlin have also been sighted in the area in the past year.
Peter Exley from the RSPB in Exeter said rough-legged buzzards were an infrequent visitor and not a resident of this country. 'There hasn't been a sighting in Devon for quite a while — at least the last two years — and never for any length of time, although one was sighted on the Isles of Scilly on Monday of this week.
'They are very easy to confuse with the normal buzzard, but if this is confirmed it will be a very interesting and unusual record. The birds are reasonably common across Europe but turn up occasionally in this country in ones and twos as a migrant,' he said.
As requested by the RSPB, who are endeavouring to confirm the sighting, the Times has not released the exact location of the bird to protect its safety.