I bet that title's been used before, but I can never resist a pun. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you about a great wildlife experience I had only a few minutes ago - while driving down the reserve road, on the way back from checking something out on the marsh, I spotted a flash of movement on my left. A female sparrowhawk leapt straight off a fence post and immediately drew level, flying low just the other side of the hedge. She effortlessly kept pace with me for a good 200 metres, and then soared off over the grassland into a hedgerow. I told my colleagues about it when I got back to the office, and it turns out that sparrowhawks are actually known for this sort of behaviour. They've obviously learned that moving vehicles are likely to flush birds which they can then grab. That's pretty astonishing if you ask me...although I'm glad I wasn't an accidental accomplice to sparrow-cide on this particular occasion.
Sparrowhawk in flight, by Neil Smith
And just to introduce myself, I'm Dan Snowdon, the new Conservation Intern at Frampton Marsh. I hope to be blogging again soon, but that's all for now!
I'm proud to say the title was all my own work! I'm not sure I'm up tp punning in latin yet at this stage of my career, but I'll stick that one in the bank for later use.
Dan
Hi Dan.
Has Chris been giving you punning tips already?! With a sparrowhawk flavoured introduction, surely this blog was crying out for "Nisus to meet you". :-)
See you around,
Daniel.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue."