Buzzards??

I have always,sinse i was very young looked out for birds of prey flying about in sky,i am used to seeing smaller ones,Kesterals and sparrow hawks i pressum as im not good at telling them apart.
Recently,over the last few years i have been seeing lots of large biords of prey flying about,are these all buzzards? Why so many all of a sudden?

Phil, there could be a number of reasons for seeing more Buzzards than usual. Firstly, it could be good luck on your part; or secondly, they may well have chicks in the nest and the adults are more mobile in search of food to feed their chicks with. This said, it may well be just a little early for chicks from these. I say this because nearly every August time overhead in work, I see groups of up to 7 Buzzards all in the air at the same time in close proximity to each other. I'm presuming that these are a family group prior to the youngsters dispersing to find new territories. One final though though: make sure they are Buzzards as there's always a possibility that there could be Red Kites, or better still, Golden or White-tailed Sea Eagles, which occasionally drift into County Antrim from Scotland a few times a year. Mind you the sheer size difference in Buzzards and eagles should make mis-identification unlikely. Never say never though!!!

Only seeing this thread now....doh!

Big birds of prey will 99% of the time turn out to be Buzzards. These guys were virtually extinct in Ireland a few decades ago, but since becoming a protected species (as are all native birds of prey) they have increased and spread rapidly over Ireland - once confined to the extreme north-west around Rathlin, they are now found in almost every county in Ireland.

One reason they are so visible in April-time is that they are on the wing most days as a sign of territory occupancy - March and April are the months for this - and they will spend a lot of time soaring out in the open sky. As the season rolls on they will become a little less obvious as they will be busy feeding young, and so have less time to devote to territorial soaring. Nevertheless, their hunting methods predispose them to be obvious most of the time as they perch or fly out in the open.