Buzzard
Buteo buteo
Buzzard - OE *wrocc
The Old English name for buzzard (which, like other raptor names, may well have applied to more than one bird-of-prey species) is only known to us because of place-names. We can be confident of its meaning because of its similarity to modern Swedish vråk (also buzzard), suggesting that there was a common Germanic ancestor.
As with bunting place-names (Old English amer), early scholars assumed an unrecorded personal name, but there is general consensus now that buzzard (and possibly other raptor species too) is intended in wrocc place-names. Wraxhall, for instance, of which they are a considerable number, are specifically described a ‘type of secluded hollow [halh ‘nook’] harbouring prey which attracted buzzards and over which they were seen to circle’.
Unlike some bird species, it’s not difficult to see how buzzards function well as place-markers. They often sit, totem-like, in prominent and predictable places for long periods of time, or are very visible circling on thermals over easily viewable landmarks and horizons.
Buzzards, like red kites, have made a very successful comeback in recent years, after decades pushed to the north and west of Britain by the same persecutions that have afflicted so many of our bird-of-prey species. In this respect, we are able to witness buzzards in our places now in the way earlier peoples did, which is not the case with certain other once-common species whose fortunes have turned very much in the other direction (corncrake, turtle dove, nightingale, cuckoo, and so on).
Roxhill (Beds)*
Wraxhall (Dor)
Wraxhall (Som)
Wraxhall (two of, Wilts)
Wroxall (IoW)
Wroxall (Warks)
Wroxham (Norf)*
Wroxton (Oxon)
Buzzards appear in charters relating to the following places: Blewbury, Berks (10th cen.), Bremhill, Wilts (?).
Sources (see ‘About’ page for the full bibliography): Watts, Cambridge Dictionary; Ekwall, Oxford Dictionary; langscape.org.uk.