Sparrowhawk, female or male?

I didn’t think it was a good idea to say the July 2021 is defiantly a young one
Since when birds are all fluffed up and wet it can make them look abit smaller and fatter than they are. That’s why I thought I should it might be rather than its most likely or defanatly a Young Sparrowhawk. It doesnt seem to have much of a white eyebrow
If any at all. And to me it doesn’t look like it has any white eyebrow at all aswell. which is one of the reasons why I think it might be a younger Sparrowhawk But that might partly be cause of the light. In case your interested though I found out from my RSPB bird of prey book that haveimg Sparrowhawks visit  in your garden is a good sign that your ecosystem is healthy

 

I still get the sexes of sparrowhawks wrong, that aside, fabulous photos. 

I thought about size and proportions as well as colour when I looked in my bird of prey book cause there’s more than just colour that can help you identify genders with birds of prey but The Only thing is I didn’t have any pictures showing size and proportion so if I do find any then I will add those aswell. Even though its not the only factor it can still be helpful sometimes so I thought it would be helpful anyway. One of the things I find interesting about size and proportion. is Females are usualy slightly bigger than males rather than the other way around. I also  think if there is some other photos too that will defiantly be even more helpful aswell. But that if there isn’t that is ok too. I also think the photos are very good.

Thanks for the replies, everyone, and the kind words about the photos.

Here are a couple more photos of the newest Sparrowhawk sighting:

And another of the one that was washing itself in a puddle. This is after it finished washing and flew up into a nearby tree:

I think The picture right at the bottom is most likely young one. I was going to send this message earlyer but my device or the website slowed down and the page reloaded itself so it got rid of my writing so had to write it out again.  I have found a helpful link But you might want to ignore the goshawk sections in the link if your only interested in the Sparrowhawk. There are some sections of sparrowhawks and it has a picture of a young Sparrowhawk at the end of the page. so it mainly just gives you an idea for reference. So I thought it might be helpful in case you need it at some point. I havnt posted the picture cause I dont know if they will let you or not so I sent the link instead

https://www.birdguides.com/articles/identification/eurasian-sparrowhawk-and-northern-goshawk-photo-id-guide/

I think those photos you just sent of the newest Soarrowhawk sighting are very good just like the other ones.

I think the 'new' hawk is a young male - Going on rufous cheeks and barring being more towards rufous than grey but .... can S'prawks be like Marsh Harriers where depending on population density some males will keep the immature/female plumage

Thought I'd upload some more photos of Sparrowhawk visits we've had in the garden since I last posted.

There was another visit a few months ago but I didn't get any photos as it turned up five minutes after I'd gone out for an hour long walk Also another time where I was filling the bird feeders and had one swoop past only a couple of feet away from me, in hot pursuit of a pigeon.

1st September 2022:

3rd October 2022:

He's certainly a handsome fellow ;-)