Buzzard meets Chimpanzee

Eyebrows were raised this morning over a report of a ringed Buzzard from Monkey World in Wareham, Dorset. This involved a rather unfortunate Buzzard that managed to find its way into the Chimpanzee enclosure at the site... It may have been in trouble anyway, having canvas string caught around it neck, but when found this morning was missing its head and one wing!

GF17932 (its BTO ring number) was originally ringed as a chick in the nest in June 1993, making it nearly 16 years old at its unfortunate demise (the oldest BTO-ringed bird died at 24 years old)! It probably hadn't ventured far in this time though, being ringed only 5km from Monkey World.

This isn't your normal food chain link, but Buzzards can be versatile too... See the recent story of a Buzzard catching a Grey Phalarope, amazingly caught on camera by birder Paul Freestone.