In my garden this morning

In my garden this morning.

This large bird arrived and sat there for a while
looks like a sparrowhawk?

We were only sayng the other day that there were no sparrows
about this year - no wonder with this fellow about!

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Great pic Jjordie, we have lots of sparrows but not many sparrowhawks!!

 

My mum has been truly thrilled to have goldfinches in her garden. However she has had a sparrowhawk eating them, infront of her eyes:(

 

Looks like a juvenile it's not been through its moult yet,good shot jjordie.

 

Wow jjordie:cl-p:nice picture!
BTW,anyone ever seen a Sparrow Hawk working a hedge?
The Hawk flies along one side of the hedge for about 50 meters then nips up and over to the other side and flies another 50 metres then repeats the tactics over the entire length .

 

Wow. i'm lucky to have any birds in my garden. Definitely a bird unfriendly zone my neighbourhood... Too many cats I feel.

 

A sparrowhawk nested in the small wood in my street for about five years and frequently perched on a dead tree just outside the room where I have my computer. She raised loads of chicks and the last time I saw them there were four swooping around playing on a summer afternoon. I used to hear them shriek and crash through the leaves on the way to pounce on some poor unsuspecting prey.

 

Birds of prey work very hard for their grub. A kestrel swooped from above and behind me once, straight past my head at a phenomenal speed to take a small tit feeding on the balls of seed I had hanging on the outermost branches of one of my oak trees. It took it then had to perform a 90 degree upwards turn to miss the large trunk. It was a magnificent display and although I nearly "embarrassed" myself I was stood in awe of it for five minutes, heart pounding.

It was one of the most exciting few seconds of my life.

They are marvellous creatures.

 

Wow Claire sounds amazing. Haven't seen any sparrow Hawks here

 

We have a 'resident' sparrowhawk. Luckily with the number of sparrows around here, it doesn't make much impact on the population. It seems to enjoy eating pigeons too, usually on my lawn!