Red-footed Falcon

On the way back from the Blyth's Reed Warbler last week I stopped near the village of Biggin in North Yorkshire. A first-summer female Red-footed Falcon had been frequenting some fields and wires to the south of the village, and I arrived just in time to see it flushed and fly out of view into the distance.

An our later it wasn't looking promising, but then the falcon was picked up flying towards us and it gave a nice flypast before landing back on its favoured wires. Just the second Red-foot I've seen, it was quite a smart bird and nice to see a female after the moulting male at Druridge in 2015.

The location was quite productive for other raptors and I managed to pick up another four species while looking for the Red-foot; Peregrine, Red Kite, Buzzard and Kestrel. Also nearby, a Little Owl was sat on a roof and a Yellow Wagtail flitted around the fields. 

Red-footed Falcon

Yellow Wagtail