The sparrowhawk we'd been seeing occasionally has now taken up almost permanent residence in our back garden where there is.... or, rather, there was a good supply of well-fed prey. He spends most of his time sitting on a prominent perch just watching our and our neighbour's gardens.
Most of the small birds are well aware of his presence and stay away. The consumption of sunflower kernels has therefore almost dropped to zero.
In the above picture, the hawk is at bottom right and a chaffinch is perched on the branches towards the top left.
Some of the hawk's time is spent preening. Yesterday, he spent a good hour cleaning himself, and only when this was finished did he....
....start to hunt again. Here he's on the ground under the feeders having chased a small bird there, without catching it.
Finally, this morning, one of his hunts was successful - between his talons are the pitiful remains of what might have been a tit which, small as it was, he....
....tore apart and ate with evident relish
Seconds after this picture was taken he suddenly dropped off this perch and shot under the table where we do our potting. Few of the birds go there, the only exceptions being the dunnocks and robins. Oh dear - I like the dunnocks and robins.
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