A Trip to Upper Teasdale

On Sunday 8th February, we went for a drive to Upper Teesdale in the hope of seeing Black Grouse at Langdon Beck. As we drove up the dale towards Middleton-in-Teesdale the scenery was beautiful as always.

The Black Grouse at Langdon Beck were easier to see in the snow covered fields and there were a good numbers of both males and females. Total 25 birds.

As we were watching, a small flock a Grey Partridge appeared and there were already several pairs of Lapwing looking for possible nest sites. Then all of a sudden a large bird of prey flew past and landed on the pasture. A first we thought it would be a Common Buzzard, but as we watched we could see the dark breast and pale underside of  a Rough-legged Buzzard. It stayed for approximately 4 minutes, before flying away down the valley.