Male Sprawk

Okay, so it wasn't my Goldcrest I hoped for ... but hey, I will take my first photograph of a male Sparrowhawk over that!

The Sparrowhawk pair have been stalking the garden for a week now. They seem to move around the area, and I don't see them for weeks, and then I will see them almost daily for a while. I guess they don't over farm one particular spot or else the birds will get too spooked and they will have no easy prey.

It is always a concern when you put feeders up that you are creating a honey pot for predators, like cats and Sparrowhawks, but in my two years here I have seen less than ten kills in the garden, and only evidence of a couple more. That is not to rule out others of course, but the sheer weight in numbers of birds visiting means that the impact is not critical. Would I still be seeing two nuthatches almost daily for two whole years if the predators were "winning", I think not.

Why anyone would want to hunt, harm or injure these magnificent birds is beyond me. It is one of the things I am proud of when I wear the RSPB badge is they fight for ALL birds, and not single one species out over another, despite other organisations may say! Raptors make the news more with the RSPB as nothing else is persecuted more in this country, and to me it is a national disgrace!

Feeling a little more chippy and fired up today ... as you can probably tell! I blame that Mark Avery and his Fighting For Birds book ...