I was pleased and surprised to see the young Buzzard on the pole in the valley this morning. Going by the forum it had been there for at least two hours. I must admit that I had not noticed it perched there when I changed the cameras over, and only when I was reading the forum did I realise and changed the camera back. The youngster has been flying over the valley squawking for a few days. I have left the valley camera looking into the sky hoping that I could show you it flying above the farm. When outside on my way into the farm house I look to see where the Buzzards are, by the time I get in to move the camera they are out of view.
I was a bit concerned when the youngster flew off of the pole and went into the trees just in front, as it fell to the ground instead of perching in the tree, it stayed on the ground for a long time before flying up again. The parents are not feeding it any longer. All I hope is that it is sufficiently able to hunt for its self. If it is not it will soon weaken and not survive.
I was even more surprised to see the Tawney Owl land on the pole in the valley tonight. It is the first time that have seen a Tawney Owl at Denbury this year. The picture was very poor, as the lens was zoomed completely in, it is very difficult to focus it properly. It made me realise that I need to put a PTZ camera in its place that has automatic focus, but I need to work out how to do the IR lamps, there is no facility to control the direction of the IR lamps with PTZ camera as there is with the current camera, that is now installed down the valley. I have heard the Tawney Owl for most of the year, but as have said it is the first time that I have seen one at Denbury. In previous years we could regularly see them in the trees in the wood on the left hand side of the valley.
The Raymond Blanc cookery / restaurant programme on the television last night, didn’t help me in trying to persuade people of how good Eels are to eat. It is the look of the Eel that turns people off of eating them. Although it was the people who were cooking them that made them out to be not nice. The people in the restaurants didn’t seem to complain as much as the Chefs.