Wednesday, February 06, 2008

An Occasional visitor drops by for a snack


I just happened to glance out of the window. There had been a lot of noise from the resident sparrows and tits (great. blue and coal). They had been squabbling earlier about territory and I assumed that they were just doing more of the same. Then I saw the Sparrow Hawk sitting in the Chery Tree. Was he (for it is a male) guarding the nuts? I sneeked upstairs to get the camera and managed to take this shot through the kitchen window. He did not hang around long and soon flew off. But a dull day, a tedious day was suddenly special.

More later on what the tits are up to.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great picture, Mr. B. When I first saw it I seriously thought it was a "plate" out of some Edwardian field guide, painted by somebody with a huge moustache and no speck of shame about his vast collection of Red-backed Shrike eggs.

The Birdwatcher said...

Gadjodilo - How did you know I had a huge moustache? I was just pleased that the nice birdie stayed on the branch while I popped of to get the camera,

Daphne said...

His mate was in our garden a week or so ago - a female on the lawn, eating a sparrow (surprisingly!) But sadly she had her back to me and my photo was - er - not as good as yours, to say the least!
For some reason, seeing a bird of prey is always special.

The Birdwatcher said...

Daphne - I agree even the humble kestrel is still staying a while to watch.

Robbiegirl said...

Sprawks are so selfish - they hang around long enough for you to spot them and almost identify them, but not long enough for you to grab the bins or a camera.

Looks like you got lucky! Great pic.

The Birdwatcher said...

Anna - Thanks for the comment. It makes up for all the missed opportunities to get one right.

Malcolm Cinnamond said...

Totally agree about birds of prey. Seeing a golden eagle on Skye is one of the highlights of my life (wedding, births and Wolves winning the League Cup notwithstanding). It hovered a couple of hundred yards away from us for about ten minutes - stunning.

Stef the engineer said...

We mis-placed a bird-feeder one time, and ended up with a sparrowhawk feeder. Great fun to watch for a while, until the smaller feathered food items got wise...
(Don't put bird-feeders in the open. Or do. Depends what you want, really.)

The Birdwatcher said...

Malc - One of my hopes is to see a Golden Eagle.

Stef - To be honest its only the second time I have seen a sparrow hawk in the garden. The last time was during a very cold winter and I gues it was starving. It chased the sparrows into their bush and I think it got lucky. Its the ground feeders I feel sorry for. Butu the as I gave noted the cats are pretty useless when it comes to catching things. They rely totally on our charity.

Anonymous said...

Hi Uncle Simon, i know it has taken me the good part of a few months to finally leave you a comment. Trust me it has taken me a while to read the adress you wrote down for me. (Joking) Anyway, i havn't read much yet, but i will read it all over time. Your pictures are amazing. I shall leave another comment very soon. infact i may even get a blog. You have inspired me :) talk soon, Vicki x x x

The Birdwatcher said...

Vicki - Thanks for that, look forward to hearing from you again soon and yes get a blog! (What do you mean you found my writing difficult to read?)