YOUNG BUZZARD

I KNOW I KNOW, where the hell have I been. Well the answer to that is no where really there hasn't been that much to blog about and although I've taken a few bird images throughout the summer there hasn't been anything out of the ordinary that hasn't been seen before.
So because I've neglected my blogging responsibilities for so long thought I'd share an incident that happened a couple of weeks ago.
Whilst going for my usual walk with the youngest Aneurin and Jack (that's our jack russell dog)  Jack flushed a Buzzard from some undergrowth on a banking, the bird was a juvenile from one of this years pairs we have nesting up here. The bird was very distressed and couldn't fly and by the way it was holding it's wing it looked as though it had somehow managed to break it. The buzzard lay still looking at us eyes wide open I expect terrified.

young buzzard with it's broken wing

I had nothing on me to cover the bird with so I could capture it and didn't want to distress the bird any more than was necessary and also didn't fancy having buzzard talons stuck in my hands, so a quick phone call to the wife and she came to the rescue with her jeep a box and a blanket as well as  the rest of the boys in tow.
We soon had it wrapped in the blanket and put in the box and kept it warm and quiet over night whilst we phoned around trying to find out where to take it so it hopefully could be saved.

Bertie the buzzard as the boys had named him, quiet in it's box

We've got an Owl sanctuary and bird of prey centre near where we live and after talking to the owner whose a very nice bloke called Malcolm we decided to take it over there to him. He told us that because Buzzards are now a common bird of prey a vet would more than likely put the bird to sleep than try to fix it's wing because it would be expensive treatment for a bird that is wild.

Malcolm with Bertie the young buzzard 

We left Bertie with Malcolm for a few days to see how he faired. The good news is that Malcolm decided to keep Bertie as one of his collection so at least we know that he will be well looked after. Malcolm's Owl and bird of prey centre is situated at the Garden festival site in Ebbw Vale south Wales. He has quite a variety of raptors on show which have either been injured like our Bertie or have been kept as pets that people no longer wants or can't look after. It's free of charge to enter and if you do decide to visit please give a small donation or buy something from his small gift shop it all helps to keep this fascinating place open.