Since December, a male Sparrowhawk has been making a real nuisance of himself in our garden, visiting several times a day on many occasions. Fortunately he's not been a very adept hunter, although there have been a few casualties.
More recently I'd been convinced that a female of the species had been paying the occasional visit. A few times I'd see the birds in the garden suddenly vanish as a flash of brown passed by.
On 29th February, I was sitting at my desk when I caught a flurry of activity in the corner of my eye. Yes, it was the female Sprawk, and she'd brought down a Collared Dove about 10 metres from where I was sitting! My first reaction was to try and get some photos through the glass of my window. Sadly, there were obstructions to the right of my view which prevented me from getting a decently composed shot. The bird was removing feathers from its prey with great rapidity.
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| Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (female) - our garden |
It's always a dilemma when such things happen - do I take the photos whilst I have the opportunity, or do I protect our garden birds by trying to frighten the predator? The answer is usually a compromise, and it was on this occasion. Having taken a few shots, I banged on the window - and it ignored me!
I made a quick dash through the kitchen to our back door (taking my camera with me, of course!) and started to confront the Sprawk. She was in a position where I couldn't get any sensible photos, and she ignored my initial approach. She stayed her ground for a while and then retreated by about 3 metres into the corner of our garden in front of one of our hedgehog houses, taking the hapless Collared Dove with her.
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| Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (female) - our garden |
She stayed a while as I got closer, and then decided I was too much of a threat, and took flight, leaving the Collared Dove behind. Convinced that the Dove was stone-dead, I returned to my study. I can see from the camera data that this whole episode took approximately 45 seconds.
I'd been sitting at my desk for a few minutes when, to my amazement, I noticed that the Collared Dove was now upright, and moving its head a little. I hurried out to see if it could be saved, and as I approached it flew up into the Sambucus in our garden.
Twenty three minutes after the Sprawk had flown off, I was back in my study again and noticed its return. It made straight for the place where it had first struck the Collared Dove, not seeing that it was now in the Sambucus, maybe 6 metres away. I took a few photos but, again, I've had to crop them heavily because of the obstructions on the right hand side of the images.
The Sprawk seemed most confused by the lack of Collared Dove - it must have thought that it had done enough to mortally wound it. It was then as if it had suddenly remembered taking it to the corner of the garden, as it trotted off there. Here she is, stepping towards the corner.
She ended up searching round the Hedgehog nesting box, and then standing on top of it. Fearing for the continued safety of the Dove I again went to scare off the Sprawk, making sure I took a photo beforehand!
Once again, the Sprawk left empty-handed, leaving the Dove in the Sambucus.
It was maybe an hour later, with me wondering if the Dove was going to fly off or cock its clogs and fall out of the tree, when the Sprawk returned once more. She grabbed the Dove and flew down behind our back fence. I got the ladder out so I could see over the fence, but could see no trace of it so, presumably, it had flown off at low level with the Dove.
It wasn't long before normality returned to the garden, and the regular birds returned, possibly safe in the knowledge that the local killer was well sated!
Here's one from that afternoon that the Sprawk missed. In line with recent comments received, I'm just calling this 'Redpoll' and not showing the old sub-species scientific name
Both male and female Sparrowhawks have visited since then, but I don't think that either of them have caught anything in our garden.
Thank you for dropping by. At this point in time I have no idea what and when my next post will be as I seem to have little up my sleeve except, perhaps, some of my garden birds so far this year.
Twenty three minutes after the Sprawk had flown off, I was back in my study again and noticed its return. It made straight for the place where it had first struck the Collared Dove, not seeing that it was now in the Sambucus, maybe 6 metres away. I took a few photos but, again, I've had to crop them heavily because of the obstructions on the right hand side of the images.
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| Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (female) - our garden |
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| Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (female) - our garden |
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| Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (female) - our garden |
It was maybe an hour later, with me wondering if the Dove was going to fly off or cock its clogs and fall out of the tree, when the Sprawk returned once more. She grabbed the Dove and flew down behind our back fence. I got the ladder out so I could see over the fence, but could see no trace of it so, presumably, it had flown off at low level with the Dove.
It wasn't long before normality returned to the garden, and the regular birds returned, possibly safe in the knowledge that the local killer was well sated!
Here's one from that afternoon that the Sprawk missed. In line with recent comments received, I'm just calling this 'Redpoll' and not showing the old sub-species scientific name
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| Redpoll (Carduelis flammea) (female) - our garden |
Thank you for dropping by. At this point in time I have no idea what and when my next post will be as I seem to have little up my sleeve except, perhaps, some of my garden birds so far this year.
