Ashridge - Buzzards Battle High in the Sky

Out at Ashridge again this morning to see if I could photograph any interesting rutting behaviour of the Fallow Deer in the bright sun.

 

Just as I stood on the edge of the tree forest, I heard Common Buzzards calling above, and looking up through a gap in the canopy, I spotted high up four Buzzards.  Two broke away, the adult pale Buzzard dropping down onto a darker bird....

...... with the darker bird defending itself, before....



 

.....the pale buzzard continued its attack.

This went on for just half a minute, with the dark bird being pursued by the pale before they disappeared behind the tree canopy.  I wondered if the this was a juvenile bird being driven away by its parent, or just an encounter at the edge of territories.

 

Photos not as sharp as I had hoped, but they were at some height, and even with a good telephoto lens they were not quite small in the original images.