the MK Falcon

When Galileo first pointed his telescope at Saturn, he saw not one, but three objects - two small discs either side of a large one.  He went on to famously conclude that ‘Saturn had ears’.

It was a while before anyone realised that what Galileo first saw were actually rings.  This oversight was partly due to the poor resolution of the early telescopes, but it also had something to do with perception.  We often describe things inaccurately if we’re not expecting to see them.  Galileo was not expecting rings - so didn’t see any.

We had our own Saturn’s ears moment on friday evening.  We’re just finishing supper when Dan looks out of the window and says; “what that?”  The actual phrase might have been a little more colourful, reflecting amazement and disbelief.  

What we see is a large bird sitting on our garden wall; not enormous, but larger than our usual wall sitters - wood pigeons being the grandaddy, size-wise.

We go through the usual gamut - “that looks like a (X, Y, Z bird) … no it can’t be ….. what the hell is it …” listing various possibilties before Dan fetches my binoculars.  Then it’s obvious, but I don’t really believe my own eyes.  Not here, in the middle of Milton Keynes. 

It sits happily enough on the wall long enough for a bird book to be found and the binoculars to be passed around.  Once it’s confirmed as a peregrine falcon, it bids us farewell.

Milton Keynes - home of the Concrete cows.  But falcons?

Google brings up news that earlier this year a pair of peregrine falcons nested in the roof of the MK Dons football stadium and successfully raised a chick. 

A bit more research reveals their first appearance in MK.  In 2013 a solitary bird flew into the stadium during a home game and swooped to catch a pigeon.  Like many a butter-finger goalkeeper, it fumbled the catch and dropped it.  The pigeon waddled around to the back of the net where it stayed for the remainder of the game.

A lot of things begin to make sense.  A few weeks ago we had an injured wood pigeon in the garden, with a clump of feathers missing from its back.  We speculated on what sort of creature might have caused such injury - not for one moment imagining a bird of prey as a possible culprit.  Then more recently we found two wood pigeons sitting stunned near our house - no obvious injuries - but looking as if they could do with a lie-down and nice cup of tea.

In all the excitement I failed to capture a photo of the visitor, so yesterday Kelly painted this rather fetching image, which I will share with you today.  ‘Butter Claws’ I presume?