Rough-legged showing well

I had a quick look at the Red-necked Grebe at Ferry Meadows this lunchtime, but it was festering away in the middle of Overton Lake and I didn't really have the time to hang around and wait for it to show any better. With a message from local birder Andy Frost suggesting that one of the two Rough-legged Buzzards was showing well at Holme Fen, on the south side of Peterborough, I headed straight down there.

Rough-legs are traditionally that sort of bird that you can spend hours looking for and never actually see particularly well, so it was nice to see both juveniles in the Holme Fen area with minimal effort, one of which showed delightfully over rough ground by the B660 – in fact, the views were probably the best I've ever had of the species in Britain. They're absolutely brilliant birds and it was really nice to enjoy prolonged views at close range and appreciate just how different the species is to Common Buzzard – not only in terms of plumage and structure, but also flight action, which is almost more akin to Red Kite, with flat wings, a 'bent' forewing at the carpal joint and the distinct tail twisting as it floated on the breeze, not to mention the characteristic hovering when hunting.

Juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard, Holme Fen NNR, Cambs, 12 November 2018