Honey-buzzards in Sussex – a report on the 2023 field season

Male Honey-buzzard, Sussex 12th Aug 2023; Jamie Partridge

In recent years there has been increasing interest and awareness of breeding Honey-buzzards in the UK, and in some areas effort has been maintained or even increased following the 2020-21 national survey (which you can read about here). In this blog, Mark Mallalieu, Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Sussex Ornithological Society, gives an update from monitoring in Sussex in 2023.

Juvenile Honey-buzzard, Sussex 12th Aug 2023; Jamie Partridge

In my talk during the RBBP 50^th anniversary event, I speculated that we might find 20 pairs of Honey-buzzards in Sussex in 2023. With the help of a fantastic team of 25 people, we did indeed find 20 pairs, 14 of which bred. We found about 60 adults during the summer in breeding habitat, some possibly relating to further pairs that were not located. Full coverage was not achieved and 25 pairs is now a reasonable estimate of the county population. Even this might be too low. It’s still not clear whether these high numbers (the previous record was 15 pairs, in 2022) reflect a genuine increase or simply increased observer effort; or, most likely, a combination of both.

Male Honey-buzzard carrying wasp comb, Sussex 20th July 2023; Mark Mallalieu

What is clear is that engaging a large team of fieldworkers makes a big difference in the numbers of birds found and perhaps especially in the instances of proven breeding, the latter sometimes requiring multiple visits to a site. Mike Scott-Ham and I were helped by a team of both expert Honey-buzzard watchers and less experienced observers, for whom three training sessions were run during the season. These were intended to demonstrate the challenges of finding Honey-buzzards – so of course the birds, ever unpredictable, upset the plan by being in view the moment the groups reached the viewpoints. More observers also means more details of fledging dates and behaviours: the first two juveniles were already flying well on 3 August; six Honey-buzzards were seen in the air together in August, with the first four clearly spooked by a Goshawk; and one male was photographed carrying a remarkably large chunk of wasp comb to the nest (see photo).

Male Honey-buzzard, Sussex 6th Aug 2023; Mark Mallalieu

In 2024 effort will focus on the areas of the county missed so far, with a view to arriving at an even better estimate of numbers. As mentioned in my talks, some Sussex sites will be put into the public domain next year before the season starts.