>
Living in the country, surrounded by fields and vineyards, we’ve got a fairly good variety of wildlife.
A family of long-eared owls (Asio otus) colonised the birch tree in the front garden for a number of years and we’ve got the usual parade of common European woodland and garden birds, with a blue jay popping in now and again.
The clear and calm weather we’ve been having has had a good few birds of prey circling high above us, calling with a high-pitched whistle.
I’m sure that Abe can identify them for me.
I’m tempted to say that the leader of the group is a sparrowhawk, but I’ll admit to being fairly cluelss…
>If you zoom in, the detail on the wings leads me to a buzzard. Raptors are really tough sometimes, especially since the coloring can change with seasons or age. Compare to http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/b/buzzard/index.asp#.Probably looking for small rodents running between the vines?