Sparrowhawk

The back garden was suddenly rather quiet this morning. It took a few moments to identify the problem - despite the usual vast quantities of birdseed having just been put out, there wasn't a small bird in sight, the reason easy to spot at bottom left in this picture.

We've known it's been around for some time, not least from the evidence of a pile of feathers on the lawn the other day, but this is the first recent sighting of our resident sparrowhawk, and a real beauty it is.

I am fairly sure that this is a male as he has grey upper parts and orange-brown stripes on his breast; that he has only a hint of orange around his cheeks and neck may indicate he's a young male