Sparrowhawk

With the current bad weather times are hard for the regular feathered visitors to our garden. Temperatures have fallen even further than in my last blog post now down to -14ºC and perhaps a few degrees even lower than that. There has been more snow and the birds have spent longer in the garden as it is even harder for them to find food in the wild.

 Today it is warmer. The snow and ice are melting and the birds have been busy on the feeders. I was just heating our lunchtime soup and looked out of the kitchen window. In one of the trees I saw a larger bird partly obscured by the branches. Quickly grabbing my camera (totally forgetting the soup that was saved from boiling over by the prompt action of Mrs Wolds-End) I got a better look at it and saw the fierce looking face of a Sparrowhawk. All the other birds had disappeared so they must have spotted the danger.

These are wonderful looking birds and I managed to get a few photos but it was tricky to get a clear shot as it was trying to remain hidden from potential prey. Shooting through windows is far from ideal but there was no way I could get outside without disturbing it.

I was only thinking the other day that the large number of birds visiting our garden may attract a predator but I presumed that the hedgerows and fields around are a better hunting ground for them with less chance of disturbance by human or feline.

Failing to find lunch it flew away and our garden was deserted by the usual birds for sometime.