Sparrowhawk :-(

1_man_and_his_dob(lo)

Not a very good start to the day - the local robin was sitting on the chair outside waiting for live mealworms, so I threw some out. The wren joined in and then the regular starlings.

Next thing I knew they all took off in a panic, there was a bang on the window, and by the time I opened the door there was a big female sparrowhawk on top of one of the birds. Clapped and ran towards it, but it just carried the screaming starling away.

The robin is still underneath the chair, looking a bit stunned, 10 minutes later. It might have hit the window and damaged itself.

Jeesh....you try to help them and end up doing more harm than good sometimes. Not that the sparrowhawk is complaining.

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Neil

peter H

Such is life I guess.

Look on the bright side, the starling had just had a treat of live mealworms and you saw a sparrow hawk up really close.

It's a jungle out there for the birds

Peter

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magicsurfbus

Our cat had the shock of her life from a Sparrowhawk not so long ago - they both had their eye on the same bird. I think the bird escaped - just.

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1_man_and_his_dob(lo)

A sparrowhawk is supposed to be a good sign - it means there's a healthy population of smaller birds. Doesn't make me feel any better though

The robin has disappeared now...hopefully he (I think it's a male...sings a lot and chases other robins away) has flown off after recovering his senses and not hopped away into a corner injured.

The wren is back looking for mealworms...never seen one coming back so often. It's probably not worried about the hawk because to one of those a wren is like a Malteser and not worth chasing

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Neil

Carol

I have a corner of our garden where the bird feeders and bird table are, and put ground food down for the blackbirds etc, love to watch them.

Sitting there last year and a hawk swooped down and took one (bigger than a sparrow hawk) made me worry for a bit about feeding them, but weighed it up and decided that birds and I enjoy the feeding so carried on.

Last year I was in the kitchen when I heard a thud in the conservatory, went and looked and a sparrow halk was lying stunned on the floor, me screamed for Ed he had a look it was flat out, went to get a tea cloth to pick it up (well you never know) when it recovered and flew up, but I did get a good look at it and was surprised how small it seemed.