I see it as part of nature, the balance between species varies. Lots of little birds and sparrowhawks will flourish, less little birds and they will decline.
I have to disagree butterfly. Any decline in songbirds won't be down to sparrowhawks but everything to do with habitat loss. Predatory birds have co-existed with their prey for thousands of years,it is not in the interest of a sparrowhawk to wipe out its food source otherwise they would then starve. Buzzards are plentiful these days,yet one of their favourite prey species the rabbit,is more common now than at any time since the second world war.
Humans have ripped out hedgerows,felled woods,drained wetlands and built on green belts. The Corn Bunting has all but disappeared from farmland because agriculture is now so efficient it leaves no spilt grain.This is where the threat to songbirds lie. I am sorry for your pigeons but I feel very strongly about this.
I agree Fishy, a sparowhawk is a regular visitor to our garden and we have loads of small birds and resident pigeons and collared doves. As soon as he/she is about the garden falls silent until about a couple of hours after he has gone and then its always the sparrows that stick their beaks out first.
It's probably too late for Gillian's Sparrowhawk but the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme is a great place to send any dead owls or birds of prey found i your garden. Their website is here.
If you contact them they will send out a bag that can be used to post the corpse. They do some great work and will not only identify the cause of death but take samples that contribute to investigations on the impact of pesticides and other chemicals on birds of prey.
A keen birdwatcher I know told me that a large percentage of sparrowhawks die in their first year of starvation. They can't catch enough to eat.
I agree Fishy. If you have a visiting Sparrowhawk it means that you have a healthy small bird population, and it's natures way. On the odd occasion you see a sickly Greenfinch,they are quickly dispatched by the sparrowhawks. I'd rather the small birds were food for them than a plaything for the local cats.
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I see it as part of nature, the balance between species varies. Lots of little birds and sparrowhawks will flourish, less little birds and they will decline.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I feed the small birds in my garden, some get munched by the local sparrow hawk. technically i'm still feeding the birds!
I have to disagree butterfly. Any decline in songbirds won't be down to sparrowhawks but everything to do with habitat loss. Predatory birds have co-existed with their prey for thousands of years,it is not in the interest of a sparrowhawk to wipe out its food source otherwise they would then starve. Buzzards are plentiful these days,yet one of their favourite prey species the rabbit,is more common now than at any time since the second world war.
Humans have ripped out hedgerows,felled woods,drained wetlands and built on green belts. The Corn Bunting has all but disappeared from farmland because agriculture is now so efficient it leaves no spilt grain.This is where the threat to songbirds lie. I am sorry for your pigeons but I feel very strongly about this.
I agree Fishy, a sparowhawk is a regular visitor to our garden and we have loads of small birds and resident pigeons and collared doves. As soon as he/she is about the garden falls silent until about a couple of hours after he has gone and then its always the sparrows that stick their beaks out first.
It's probably too late for Gillian's Sparrowhawk but the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme is a great place to send any dead owls or birds of prey found i your garden. Their website is here.
If you contact them they will send out a bag that can be used to post the corpse. They do some great work and will not only identify the cause of death but take samples that contribute to investigations on the impact of pesticides and other chemicals on birds of prey.
A keen birdwatcher I know told me that a large percentage of sparrowhawks die in their first year of starvation. They can't catch enough to eat.
I agree Fishy. If you have a visiting Sparrowhawk it means that you have a healthy small bird population, and it's natures way. On the odd occasion you see a sickly Greenfinch,they are quickly dispatched by the sparrowhawks. I'd rather the small birds were food for them than a plaything for the local cats.