MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Small bird of prey in our garden quite often - not sure what it is, Sparrowhawk or Merlin possibly. Any ideas?
[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/13928596547_722a460f2a_b.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/82598458@N05/13928596547/ ]may 004[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/82598458@N05/ ]jamesanderson2010[/url], on Flickr
Sparrowhawk
Sparrowhawk without a doubt, those yellow eyes are a giveaway. Female or juvenile. And that's a much bigger bird than you might imagine, at least twice the size of a Merlin, which hunts dragonflies!
Stet that, it's the Hobby that I'm thinking of, not the Merlin. Merlin are a a little smaller than the sparrowhawk, but much less likely to be seen around gardens. I've only ever seen one sparrowhawk in my garden, I've never, ever seen a Merlin, and a Hobby once on the Somerset Levels. Tiny little thing, and damned fast!
And that's why you don't see any baby robins.
Assuming that's a standard four inch fence thing, it's a male sparrowhawk. Females are about 30 to 40% bigger than the males
Ta for that. Seen him/her quite a few times. We still have baby robinsaround,we usually have a young Jay aswell this time of the year.
very nice, was enjoying watching some yellowhammers at my parent's over the weekend. Sadly no red kites or buzzards seen at all since the recent poisonings up there, very unusual and sad 🙁
very nice, was enjoying watching some yellowhammers at my parent's over the weekend. Sadly no red kites or buzzards seen at all since the recent poisonings up there, very unusual and sad
Damn right. It should be the law that the landowner pays a £50,000 fine for any raptor poisoned, trapped or shot on their land. No ifs or buts, their land, their responsibility.
Very fast bird with evil eyes.Watched a few red kites over the Malborough downs today.Lovely birds.Game keepers have been poisoning birds of prey for centuries.Thats why there is very few places in this country to see Goshawks.Should be much more wide spread.
Yeah, this guy they interviewed has a massive question mark hanging over his head for me after saying it might not be poison but could be something else, seems a pretty stupid thing to say, who knows though
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-27074309
I've can't recall spending a weekend up there without seeing red kites and buzzards at all though, its really sad.