Any birdwatchers about? Need ID help!

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Can anyone help please for suggestions in identification of a pair of birds seen by adult dd about 6.30pm this evening.

She said they were big (but not buzzards or red kites - we get both of those a lot round here so we know those well) and definitely some sort of raptor. She saw a pair of them flying along and banking as we drove over a flyover so she saw them looking down at them at an angle from above. Their backs were dark in colour apart from their heads, which were white.

All the images we can find tend to show raptors in flight from underneath and we are stumped. I suggested marsh harriers but she's said no.

Ospreys? Male...hen harriers are light coloured, too.

Don't think it is hen harriers, we are in a river valley in the home counties. She said they were really dark, almost black, with white heads.

Ospreys? It can't be... can it?!

Check out the RSPB ID page - could be a couple of late arrival ospreys www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/osprey/
Or something escaped! That's happened there before.

Not that rare. There's a whole page about them being regulars at Rutland water which is pretty far inland.

I've just been googling - I see that ospreys breed at Rutland Water, but we're nearly 70 miles away.

A single one could be a tame escapee from a collection, but a pair of them?

Merlin possibly?

Merlins are small.

Theres ospreys in several parts of the country. Whereabouts are you?

Oh sorry, Home Counties.

I know a bit about Ospreys having closely followed an osprey project for 7 years. It's unlikely - but not impossible - that they were Ospreys as they don't usually fly together unless they're having a territorial dispute. Would you mind saying roughly where you are please?

I might add that Ospreys are VERY big birds - bigger than buzzards.

Certainly sound like ospreys.

Ospreys do sometimes fly in pairs apparently, especially if they're non-breeding. Apologies! I didn't know that til an expert just told me!

#Squiff70 We are (funnily enough) not all that far from the RSPB HQ

Honey buzzard? Classic time for passage and they can have a grey head
www.birdguides.com/articles/identification/may-id-tips-honey-buzzard/

Ospreys are white underneath too though. Is she sure they weren't melanistic buzzards? I've seen many which look patchy white and have white heads.

Though reading the OP again, if they are flying along a banking I'd think more buzzard or marsh harrier

She didn't see them from underneath, they were turning and we were on a bridge so she saw their topsides. She said they weren't buzzards, we see them all the time round here.

They weren't flying along a banking, they were 'banking' as in turning sideways.

Sparrowhawk?
They're lighter underneath and up to their heads. Common and chase birds through undergrowth. Females are slightly smaller than buzzards.

Could be goshawk but they're unusual and woodland based.

Marsh harrier. Females are dark with a pale head.

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/marsh-harrier/

Definitely not sparrowhawks - we have one whizz through our garden occasionally.

I'll show her a picture of a female marsh harrier when she gets back in later. That sounds more likely than ospreys!

Definitely sounds like Osprey

Yeah it does Scrowy but the odds are against it really. Anyway, she looked at the female marsh harrier picture and the jury is out.