Sparrowhawk on the lawn

wigan54 · #1 (**permalink**) 17-05-2009, 09:43 AM

Yesterday while looking out of my window I saw a sparrowhawk on the Lawn
it flew about 30ft away and starting to pluck feather after feather from its prey which I have now ID it as a young starling so I quickly set up my camcorder and filmed the bird it only lasted just 6 minutes before it flew away
but to see it so close was just fantastic, I have since put the footage on to a Dvd & also found out that there is a pair of Sparrowhawks nesting in the Local church.

aeshna5 · #2 (**permalink**) 17-05-2009, 09:48 AM

It is a fantastic feeling to see a wild predator at work in your own garden- sad for the prey, but nature in the raw as it is.

Sparrowhawks are one of my favourite birds!

FUDGEY · #3 (**permalink**) 17-05-2009, 09:51 AM

well cool! Can you upload it to utube? Is it nesting on the church or in trees in the grounds? If it's on the church far more likely to be a Kestrel or a Peregrine.

Tringa · #4 (**permalink**) 17-05-2009, 02:55 PM

Please do try and get your vid on YouTube, it would be great to see. If I'm lucky I see a only few Sparrowhawks each year and then usually only as a quick glimse as they fly by. Even the one that a couple of years ago was hunting across the back gardens was only a large blur of brown feathers.

wigan54 · #5 (**permalink**) 17-05-2009, 06:51 PM

most definetly a sparrowhawk

wigan54 · #6 (**permalink**) 17-05-2009, 06:59 PM

I will try and get it on to youtube never done it before but i will give it a go
theres a bit of noise in the background.........me cursing when a friend came through the living room door to take a look but it dont spoil the vid
bye steve.

witham · #7 (**permalink**) 18-05-2009, 06:42 AM

Last year I took some pics of our local one who used to come and sit on the avairy or patio furniture to watch the bird feeders and it nested in one of our trees, unfortunately I found it dead a few weeks ago but another one has allready moved in perhaps one of its young who was still in the area.

Tringa · #8 (**permalink**) 20-05-2009, 06:11 AM

Great vid. Good to see one so well.

What an efficient plucker! Reminds me of a song.

wigan54 · #9 (**permalink**) 21-05-2009, 08:07 AM

I played the vid back in slow motion on my Dvd player and you can see every feather being plucked from the prey in detail I think the bird was a young starling as quite a few have flown the nest at this time of year, the other day I was out with my dog and saw evidence of the sparrowhawks work again as there were a pile of feathers on the ground but I think that this time it had taken a pigeon or a dove I hope it wasnt a dove as they are nesting in a large conifer in the local school playground.