Nature at its best/worst!

[Lakeland Potter]

I have a friend who moved to the Lake District recently and she has an amazing amount of wildlife in her garden - she is also a decent photographer and took the photo below through her kitchen window the other day.

The photo is of a male sparrowhawk which had caught a young blackbird. As soon as it saw Jayne at the window with her camera it flew off leaving the blackbird unharmed. Good for the blackbird but not so good for a hungry sparrowhawk!

bp1.blogger.com/_4kfAqi-TxFE/SFqUBy9iaRI/AAAAAAAAAoA/kw-5VyliuDE/s1600-h/Sparrowhawk-01.jpg

[Amo.]

you need tell your friend her lawn needs cutting

[frasier37]

The rest of us can only dream of aview like that Fornie.

For the most of us it's like this -

[stokiematt]

OWNED ;D


EDIT: i meant the bird

[Deleted]

That's when I flew in and saved the day.

By beating the shit out of them all.

[mumf14]

Nice picture Mr Fornside....Keep em' coming.

[rhodesy]

That's cool! ;D

[daverichards]

the blackbird was unharmed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

did it have blunt talons .

[Lakeland Potter]

No idea Dave, it didn't hang around for Jayne to find out! Remember this was a young blackbird - not much of it. The talons probably didn't touch the bird at the time of the "hit" if they were wide open (as they usually are). I suspect that this photo was taken just after landing so the process of using the talons hadn't yet started.

[Northy]

I've got a picture of a female sparrowhawk yomping a collared dove on my back lawn, but I havn't a clue how to post it. I dn't have a website or photobucket thingy.

Are you sure it's a male, looks a bit big for a male they aren't much bigger than a thrush, it could be the female
www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/images/sparrowhawk10.jpg


Forny, is your friend's lawn mower broken

[Deleted]

Great photo fornside.

And frasier, is that StokieCarl and his crew???

[vote for pedro]

as much as i like to see birds of prey
they get on my tits (not blue tits) at my inlaws farm
they have loads of white pigeons there, well they did till a mink got in and killed 36 of them in one night
so they were left with 12 birds and they now have 7 due to the sparrow hawk feeding its young

[NorwichStokie]

That's a great photo Fornside (thanks for the PM by the way).
It's definately a male - you can tell by the deepness of blue on it's back (females are much browner) and the orange flush to the underparts, although this is often much more pronounced in some males (it may wear away after the spring, when most birds undergo a full body-moult). Also, males are more inclined to be hunting in wooded areas and gardens, whilst females (due to their larger size) hunt in more open areas like fields and moorland.
Cheers,
Graham

[Chris]

Jul 11, 2008 7:53:26 GMT @eastmidspotter said:

Great photo fornside.

And frasier, is that StokieCarl and his crew???

Or is it sing and fight with his crew???

[Northy]

no, a male is smaller than a kestrel, doesn't have the white flash above the eyes and it's chest stripes are an orangy/brown colour

if it's a male (did she check closely ) it could be a male goshawk but they don't normally live in hilly areas.

[Somebody_Told_Me]

Nice picture!!

A sparrow hawk tried to fly through my conservatory doors the other day, they were closed. It's dead!

[PotteringThrough]

Shame that, didn't leave any marks on the window?

[Somebody_Told_Me]

Not really just the birds feet must have been damp they left two slight marks and one where it head had it.

Odd thing happened the other night too.

Woken at 3am to an almighty row in chicken shed. Got out a 12 bore ran down stairs, put me shoes on well just got me toes in, stood outside shed for Fox to pop out, next thing, I think that doesn't look like a fox??? In sleepy stupor I'm thinking don't kill a one of our cats. As I tried to focus it came towards me it was only a bloody badger!!! Must have been nicking the eggs.
I couldn't move because of me feet, when it came to close I shot over it's head. I know they're veggies but it was startled to see me there and I didn't want to fight it. ;D

[NorwichStokie]

Jul 11, 2008 12:03:53 GMT Northy said:

no, a male is smaller than a kestrel, doesn't have the white flash above the eyes and it's chest stripes are an orangy/brown colour

if it's a male (did she check closely ) it could be a male goshawk but they don't normally live in hilly areas.

Definately not a Goshawk. They have a slate grey back, a whopping white supercillium (the line above the eye) and black ear-coverts. You're probably right about it being a female Sparrowhawk though. I didn't realise they could be so blue on the back, but after further reading, it appears they can be. One interesting point is that if it's a female, it's a young one. An adult female has a deep orange eye and if you look at the feathers on the birds wing, you can see some of the old, retained, brown juvenile feathers.

[Lakeland Potter]

Cheers for your input everyone. We live and learn. I could have sworn it was a male. Jane who took the photo lives about 20 miles away from me. I see Sparrowhawks regularly and the femailes always look browner than the males to me. I also get Goshawks in the garden on the odd occasion but they are noticably larger than the sparrowhawks. I'll tell Jayne that the consensus is that it is a female sparrowhawk.

Graham, my friend Jayne must keep her windows cleaner than I do. I've never managed to get a photo like that through the window.

PS - she has half an acre of garden so, whilst some of the grass is well cut, she leaves plenty of it long near the trees and shrubs to encourage the wildlife. I expect her ambition now is to get a red squirrel in the same shot as a hawk - like me she sometimes sees them in the garden at the same time.

[Northy]

I had a red squirrel running along the fence, well more orangy (it was from Hull ;D) nah the neighbour had painted his fence and the resident grey had a few stripes.
How do i put a picture of the one troughing the collar dove on my lawn on here?

[Lakeland Potter]

Just sign up for a free subscription to a picture hosting site. Webshots is a common one. Google "Webshots" and then click on the link at the top of the home page to download the software. Then upload your photos to an album and then put a link to the album on here.

Even mumf managed to work it out in about ten minutes! ;D

[thewilse]

Jul 11, 2008 12:51:47 GMT Somebody_Told_Me said:

Not really just the birds feet must have been damp they left two slight marks and one where it head had it.

Odd thing happened the other night too.

Woken at 3am to an almighty row in chicken shed. Got out a 12 bore ran down stairs, put me shoes on well just got me toes in, stood outside shed for Fox to pop out, next thing, I think that doesn't look like a fox??? In sleepy stupor I'm thinking don't kill a one of our cats. As I tried to focus it came towards me it was only a bloody badger!!! Must have been nicking the eggs.
I couldn't move because of me feet, when it came to close I shot over it's head. I know they're veggies but it was startled to see me there and I didn't want to fight it. ;D

The badgers in Light Oaks definately aren't veggies they eat anything.

[edinburghstokie]

she could probably get some sort of nature amateur photography prize for that!

[chellster]

Great photo. That is one mean looking bird.