Honey Buzzards in Scotland
The Scottish population appears to be very poorly known. The table below shows observations made by NR over the last few years in Scotland.
|
Area |
Year |
Month |
Number birds |
Number sites |
|
Ullapool |
2003 |
May |
0 |
0 |
|
Inverness |
2000 |
May |
1 |
1 |
|
Inverness |
2001 |
May |
3 |
2 |
|
Aviemore |
2003 |
May |
3 |
2 |
|
Perth |
2001 |
May |
1 |
1 |
|
Perth |
2003 |
May |
4 |
3 |
|
Glasgow |
2002 |
May |
2 |
1 |
|
New Galloway |
2004 |
May/June |
12 |
7 |
|
Inverness |
2006 |
May |
4 |
4 |
|
Aviemore |
2006 |
June |
1 |
1 |
|
Perth |
2006 |
May/June |
2 |
1 |
|
Perth |
2006 |
August |
3 |
3 |
|
Total -- distinct sites |
|
|
28 |
19 |
Area means roughly the land in a 40km radius of the named town or city. The overall totals are 19 sites including New Galloway 7; Inverness 5; Aviemore 2; Perth 4; Glasgow 1; Ullapool 0.
These are very much opportunistic sightings in visits lasting one week each year. It would be interesting to see more comprehensive figures if these are available.
The total of 19 sites above is slightly above the 14 reported for Scotland in the last UK results for 2000. It is not surprisingly well below the 30-50 pairs estimated from a recent habitat analysis for the whole of Scotland Density studies. Certainly the nature of the above survey does not allow an extrapolation to be made for population purposes but the widespread distribution of the Honey Buzzard in Scotland is surely not in doubt.
© Copyright Nick Rossiter 2000-2007