Red in tooth and claw

Still at my sister's in genteel Durham. This is the delightful view out of the kitchen window. A sparrowhawk breakfasting on a starling.

I was a bit hesitant about putting it on but am hoping that without the gruesome sound effects of the live show, it won't put anyone off their elevenses.

The starling is still alive at this point, and it looked to us as though the hawk (a young one?) didn't really know what to do. It didn't seem to respond to our shouting 'just kill it' through the window and when we went out to intervene it, not surprisingly, flew off with its breakfast. We weren't trying to save the starling - which clearly had a broken wing, and anyway hawks need to eat too - but just finish it off a bit quicker.

The kids seemed fascinated by the whole affair, though our son thought it was 'just mean' to eat creatures. Given his inability to eat any other protein, I think I'll hold off on telling him how sausages are made...