Sparrowhawk lunch

Nature doing what nature does, a nice photo.

BTW, we have plenty of wood pigeon here..... Just sayin'.....

Mike

Flickr Peak Rambler

In reply to Mike B:

"Spar hen takes down woodie" shock (not).

Given that some think there are (far) too many wood pigeons perhaps more sparrowhawks are required. The trouble is some of those who think there are too many wood pigeons also think there are too many sparrowhawks.

Not everyone! I'd love more Sparrow Hawks and would happily watch them remove a few of our Wood Pigeons, much as I like all birds!

Kind regards, Ann

In reply to tuwit:

tuwit said:

"Spar hen takes down woodie" shock (not).

Given that some think there are (far) too many wood pigeons perhaps more sparrowhawks are required. The trouble is some of those who think there are too many wood pigeons also think there are too many sparrowhawks.

First, my humblest apologies to Catherine, and I say again, a nice photo of nature doing what nature does, along with all following this thread for my response.

May I point you to Tuwit my reply, and I quote;

Mike

Flickr Peak Rambler

"Nature red in tooth and claw" emphasis being on the natural behaviour of the Sparrowhawk; I'd rather see these beautiful raptors take one woodpigeon for a more substantial meal than equivalent of a dozen smaller birds. I also like all birds including the woodpigeon; we used to get significant incoming numbers of them during autumn/winter months in our last large woodland garden and certainly wouldn't have considered their numbers dwindling and of concern. It's often difficult to understand the red/amber/green lists as numbers of species of concern depends on where you live and the habitat around you. We used to see many birds on the "concern" list in our oak/beech woodland garden so it maybe gave a false illusion of the stability in some species numbers which didn't seem to be in decline in our area whereas we never saw any starlings or house sparrows visit in our 9 years there ! On birdwatching days a little further afield I would be thrilled to see starlings and .house sparrows which brought a roll of the eyes from other birders !! Going back to sparrowhawks, we used to see both male and female fairly frequently in our last garden and although only successful in a kill (maybe one or two times in ten ) we saw one take a Jackdaw by our pond on one occasion. I only saw a woodpigeon taken as prey on a woodland/riverside walk where unfortunately the female sparrowhawk had brought it down on a frequently used cycle/footpath so after all her effort sadly she most likely gave up on her much needed meal.. Long live the magnificent sparrowhawk :)

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Regards, Hazel 

"Each kindness shown to birds or men is sure to flutter back again" 

Living on the edge of mixed use farmland Wood Pigeons seem to be everywhere we go and always shiw up on our farmland bird surveys. However so far this winter we do not seem to have noticed the usual large influx of Wood Pigeons from the continent we usually expect, maybe that will come later as weather there deteriorate. I love the photo of the Sprawk doing what comes natural to it. I had always understood that if you get Sparrowhawks visiting regularly it shows you have a decent local bird population.

Pete

Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can

Interesting point about Wood Pigeon migration, I always thought ours in the UK were quite sedentary and the numbers were boosted by visitors from Europe.

Pete

Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can