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New visitor to my bird feeders
Singing Gardener
Posts: 1,237
Over the last few days this has been a regular visitor to my bird feeders. I haven't seen it catch anything yet though. I did check the RSPB website to see whether I should be trying to discourage it but the gist of their advice was just to enjoy it so I will! (Sorry the photo's not much good - photography isn't my strong point).
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I also have a sparrowhawk. However, I did witness it take out a woodpecker in the garden last week. The woodpeckers have been frequent visitors for the last 3 years. They bought their 2 young to visit this year. The female is still around. A kestrel does a regular fly past.
The first time I noticed it was because a woodpecker flew into the conservatory window because it was being chased and I will be very sad if it catches one. It is really beautiful though.
I don't think it's a very skilled hunter - it seems to spend a lot of time being taunted by the blue tits who hide in a nearby thick branched deutzia and fly out of the other side when the sparrowhawk tries to chase them just to fly straight back in on the other side and wait for it to strike again!
They sometimes sit for long enough to get a really decent photo.
"Chapeau", Mr/s Berghill! Brilliant shots.
I had one rest on the pergola just above the kitchen window. Looked up from making a tea to see a big beady eye looking back.
It's probably a youngster, this years brood sizing up the target area. It may be a female it looks quite large. Males are smaller and take small birds, the females like bigger prey blackbirds up to jays. Fantastic you have one.
Those are lovely photos, Berghill! I think I'll give up trying to photograph this one and just enjoy watching it....
Actually, if mine could take an interest in the pigeons that would be a double bonus.
We get a Sparrow Hawk in the garden virtually every week, it sits on the Feeder post looking without any luck peering into a lovely spiny Berberis bush where the song birds hide, very rarely gets a meal, but that's what they kill for, as food not as some animals do just for fun, lovely photos Berghill.