Have you ever seen a Sparrowhawk take a Wood Pigeon from your garden?

That's happened to me on 2 occasions recently Ann that a sprawk has whizzed passed me in the garden chasing its dinner so yes that I understand that can happen but to approach one waving arms in the air and making noises to scare it and it moves closer..even my pigeons would are off soon as I step foot within a few metres. But as we both already said could be injured or an escapee that's been acclimatise to humans

I have also seen sparrowhawks whizzing past and diving into foliage to catch small birds. The strangest thing was a sparrowhawk hanging upside down from the guardian cage of a bird feeder in the garden. I was horrified because I thought it was caught and couldn't get away. I went over to try and free it (I hadn't really thought about how I was going to do this and didn't even have gloves!). It turned out it had caught a sparrow that was inside the cage and wasn't letting go. As I approached, it yanked the sparrow through the cage and flew away with it. I have now removed the guardian cage to give smaller birds a better chance of getting away.

Thanks everyone for all your replies I would never think a bird of prey would let me that near so that does make sense maybe injured etc.

I have put previous posts up about having a sparrowhawk after my birds in my garden and was told to get more cover for the birds as my garden is too open etc.

This proves my point that maybe I don't need hedges and trees as a bird of prey will get there breakfast, lunch, tea regardless.

Thanks everyone...

Dave CH, that's a fab story of the goshawk, though it seems a bit of sloppy stockmanship, unless the door was deliberately left ajar because of the weather, for a fox (and there's plenty around, urban and rural) could just as easily have been the predator.

We regularly get visited by Sparrowhawks, both male & female. I have seen the female take a woodie and the male take collared doves. I posted a picture of one with a collared dove right outside our patio windows on here a couple of weeks ago.
We regularly have piles of feathers around the garden so dont always see the action and have watched the sprawk pluck and eat a woodie on the decking next to our pond.

Thanks, everyone, for your stories of close encounters with Sparrowhawks.

Kath, I think if I were you I might still consider putting in some cover for the birds. Just because a Sprawk might dive into a hedge or other cover (and some actually do as other posters have observed) does not mean that all Sprawks will do that on every hunting mission. I imagine that like much else in life, it takes practice to get it right. And if there are a few bushes and/or trees in which to seek shelter, that will help most of your small birds on most Sprawk visits. Also, if a small bird can dive into some cover, then it has a better chance of leaving that cover on the opposite side from where the Sprawk is and flying unobserved into other cover farther away, possibly in another garden or into any nearby woodland or brown-field scrubland (which often plays host to a remarkable amount of wildlife). A friend of ours has put mesh of some sort over his bushes to provide safe roosting for the small birds which visit his feeders. The mesh is large enough for Robins and Blackbirds to get through it but too small to permit a Sparrowhawk to pass through. The bushes are wide enough that a Sprawk cannot reach completely through it to grab a small bird. It is not the most attractive thing to look at, but it serves the purpose for which he installed it. It is really a very large-sized guardian feeder cage, protecting not feeders but some very good-sized bushes in which small birds can shelter and feel safe. I seem to remember that the mesh is attached to posts and possibly to the top of part of his boundary fence and not simply draped over the bushes.

Dave, thanks for clarifying that the enclosure for the chickens had a 'roof' which was not really a roof, but a strung loose mesh of some sort. Sorry, I thought you were implying a building/shed sort of thing. Was this a pen with plastic netting or wire mesh sides and some sort of makeshift 'roof' and not an actual building? That would be unsafe and not just from Goshawks or Sparrowhawks. I know of one chicken run (shed for roosting plus wire mesh-walled outer area open to the weather but no roof on that bit). The side wire mesh walls were six feet high and a fox easily climbed over and killed most of the chickens. The only chickens who survived the fox attack were the only ones who had not panicked but remained on the perches which were about 4 feet above the floor of the shed. The shed door was open into the outdoor run/pen so that the chickens could come and go as they liked. After the fox attack the owner bought more chickens and put a proper small-meshed roof over the top of the entire thing and no more fox visits.

Thanks Ann that is a really good idea.

Have never thought of that so thank you.

Kath xx

This is how open and small my garden is....

Hedges that have hardly grown since last year..

The salix tree that the birds love to sit in....