Dive-bombing buzzard causes school playground ban

A village primary school in east London has ordered pupils to stay inside due to a dive-bombing buzzard taking up residence in its playground.

There are concerns the bird is guarding its nest and may attack children at Dame Tipping Primary School in Havering-atte-Bower after there were reports it had swooped on residents in the village.

Havering Council has said its health and safety team had provided "detailed advice to the academy trust responsible for the school, including the use of legal deterrents and other controls".

The council has also suggested hiring a falconry expert who may be able to deter the raptor.

Buzzards are the most common and widespread bird of prey in the UK and often feed on carrion, according to the RSPB.

Havering Council said the RSPCA had advised that the buzzard may be protecting its nest or chicks.

The council said that, as buzzards are a protected species under UK law, "intervention options are very limited".

The council added: "We completely understand how difficult and worrying this situation is for the school and local residents and we regret that there is not a quick or straightforward solution."

Head teacher Stella McCarthy told the BBC the school was trying to allow children to play outside where possible and was regularly taking pupils to a nearby outdoor learning facility.

"We had to think about how to risk assess this... it's quite an unusual situation, having to risk assess a buzzard.

"We tried our nearer playground areas thinking they would be safe, but soon discovered that Brenda was quite attracted to children playing outside."

But she said they all accepted "there was nothing we could do" to remove the buzzard and that teachers were instead educating children about the bird.

"We embraced it as a learning experience for the children," Ms McCarthy said.

"The children the named the bird Brenda and put out posters for protecting Brenda and looking after her... they've been writing stories, reports; next week they'll be doing and newspaper articles, they've done artwork."

As part of their learning experience, a bird of prey expert visited the school - bringing with him a Chilean blue buzzard eagle called Guido.

Ross Hicking said: "Guido is here today to help educate the children about what Brenda the buzzard is dong, why she's behaving like this, the natural habits of buzzards, to foster interest in birds of prey and also to teach them about conservation and what we can do to protect birds of prey in the wild."

Mr Hicking said that, while "99% of the time" buzzards would avoid people due to fear, Brenda's swooping could be connected with the nesting season.

"Brenda could behaving like this because she has a nest in the nearby area, so she might be that bit more defensive of her nest.

"Another big factor is, living in a suburban area, she may be in close proximity to people so that will mean she's a lot more comfortable around people and lot less fearful than most buzzards would be."

Additional reporting by Tim Muffett

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