Chowing down on my weetabix this morning, glanced out the window and spotted some movement in the next door garden… took a closer look and was rather suprised to see a beady eye peering back at me

Sparrowhawk 002 by ten_sim, on Flickr

’twas a Sparrowhawk (I think? A young female perhaps?) devouring a freshly caught pigeon, only 1-2m from me. Screened by the foliage and lattice between us, I was able to get within a metre or so and take some pretty decent close up shots, the bird didn’t seem to fazed by me being there, was really cool!

Sparrowhawk 016 by ten_sim, on Flickr

Sparrowhawk 010 by ten_sim, on Flickr

Sparrowhawk 015 by ten_sim, on Flickr

Sparrowhawk 040 by ten_sim, on Flickr

Quite a few more pics in this Flickr set if you’re interested 😀

010 is a superb shot!

cheers, all these were pretty rushed as I wasn’t sure when she’d notice me and fly off, happy a few came out pretty good. 70-200mm L F4 IS lens certainly gives some ‘pop’ to the image, and a lovely ‘bokeh’, a bit of cropping and post processing and I reckon it’ll be even better 🙂

Wow, what a view, lucky you. 10 is also my favourite. Earlier this year was walking home when I saw a sparrowhawk grasping a pigeon on a pavement beside a busy main road. Was such a great sight – something so wild against the mundanity of human life – that I still regret not carrying a camera that day!

No cropping or fannying about required on 010.

What a gorgeous bird! And +many on image 010 …superb!

Great shots. I’d give them a little boost in photoshop though (it could be my screen, of course).

Enjoyed that, great pics.

some good pics there.

was this in Islington? good spot!

[i]wanders off to get some meat out of the freezer to put in the garden[/i]

Yep, in N1. Have never seen him/her around before, was very suprised to spot it out there this morning! Was equally suprised that she just continued ripping the pigeon to shreds with me 4ft away! Felt quite privileged really 😀

Yep, in N1.

I was once sat in a meeting in Millbank Tower bored off my tits to be awoken by a Peregrine zooming past and capturing a rock dove in flight. Stunning!

cool can you come round here and take nice pictures of annoying gobshite baby herringull babies. **** annoying little screetchy brown bastards no understanding of ordinary people…

Fabulous!

cool pic, love number 10 as well, really punchy!

Great shots – I really like 16 but as everyone else has said, there’s not a bad picture in that whole album. 🙂

Incredible pics. Incidentally I’m going hunting with a Harris Hawk in November at Coniston Cold!

damn good snaps though. he’s just thinking about his next meal…

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very disappointing pics were great but just got me thinking about a fantastic Wood Pigeon Breast on Mash with an awesome sauce that I used to get in a pub I used to frequent…..

mmmm… pigeon breast with red wine jus… tasty 🙂

aye. you’re lucky. It’s not often you get to see the best of nature right up front like that. bet it was a fascinating experience.

He actually came back today to pick over the carcass, was a bit of a mexican stand off between him and the large black tom that lives nearby, the cat was eying the hawk up as a potential meal I think but he thought the better of having a go at the raptor, probably the best policy! Now that might’ve been a good fight to see, who’d have won do you think?

I was literally around 1m from this bird, hence the decency of the shots (the quality lens helps as well), can’t be that often that someone gets that close to a wild sparrowhawk you’d think? Very privileged 😀

Was thinking about entering either 10 or 16 into the Wildlife Photographer of the Year comp, under the ‘Urban Wildlife’ category… you never know, could be in with a shot 😆