Honey-buzzard

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of Honey-buzzard, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

This species can be found on the following statutory and conservation listings and schedules.

UK Birds of Conservation Concern	Amber listed
Species of European Conservation Concern	Least Concern
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (global)	Least Concern
Schedule 1 license required (to disturb)	Yes
Birds Directive Annex 1	Yes
Listed on the Annexes of	WCA(I,IV), WBD(I), Bern(III), Bonn(II), CITES(II)

The Honey-buzzard is a rare breeding species in the UK but the population and trend are unclear. Rare Breeding Birds Panel data give a mean of 38 breeding pairs for the period 2015–2019 and suggest that there has been a slight increase in the 25 years to 2019 (Eaton et al. 2021). The breeding estimate is likely to be low as it is a difficult species to monitor. A population estimate of 100–150 pairs was suggested by Roberts & Law (2014) and a national survey has recently been undertaken which may give a more accurate population estimate once the data have been analysed. The Bird Atlas data suggest the number of occupied squares may have increased since 1988–91, but this is uncertain as this may be due to improved levels of detection and reporting rather than a genuine increase (Balmer et al. 2013). 

Honey-buzzard is a rare breeding species in the UK, with most records in southern England, plus Wales, north Yorkshire and Scotland.

Occupied 10-km squares in UK

No. occupied in breeding season	81
% occupied in breeding season	2.7

European Distribution Map

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Honey Buzzards are localised summer visitor, mostly arriving from May onwards, with a pulse of migrants in September in some years.

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Maximum Age from Ringing	12 years 11 months 21 days (set in 2018)
Typical Lifespan	9 years with breeding typically at 2 year
Adult Survival	0.86±0.013
Juvenile Survival	0.419 (to age 2)

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

Ring size	G
Field Codes	2-letter: HZ | 5-letter code: HONBU | Euring: 2310

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Causes of change

As the trend is uncertain, it is also unclear what is driving the trend. Some studies suggest that they are highly successful breeders in the UK (Wiseman 2012) and hence productivity may be the demographic factor which is driving apparent increases.