Buzzard VS Little Owl !

Date spotted: 24th January 2013 - 1PM

Location: Newton Park Lake - Zones 1,2+5

Observation: Been following the Buzzard and this family of Little Owls for around three years now and never seen or heard of this before! We were walking along the bottom lake, and found the Little Owls (they had disappeared for a while due to building works behind their nest), the Male and the Female were out hunting and moving from tree to tree. We heard a Buzzard call but carried on walking to the top lake, when we returned and found this Little Owl (pictured) he was in the open so stopped and watched him for a while, again we heard the Buzzard call we turned around and with that seen it flying STRAIGHT towards the Owl, we had out cameras ready but it happened so fast, we didn't get many shots. The Little Owl followed the Buzzard when he knew it was hunting him, the Little Owl took flight and went straight inside its nest INSIDE a tree, (pictured). The Buzzard went straight in after the Owl, and neither appeared for at least 2 or 3 minutes, the buzzard reappeared and sat on the entrance to the nest looking around and at the tree which was FILLED with noisy crows and jackdaws. The Buzzard sat and waited and called to its mate also flying around waiting. The Buzzard looking sorry for its self, kept peering into the nest but with no luck and no evidence of a kill, the Buzzards got chased off by two Crows. We waited but the Little Owl didn't appear and the Buzzards didn't return . We think the Little Owl has a LUCKY escape this time!

Weather: Blue Sky, Sunny, Cold

Other Species: Buzzard, Crow  Jackdaw,  Rook, Little Owl