^^^^
Talking of birds having unhappy (for them) endings:
I was on my knees peering into my wildlife pond when "flap! flap! flap! bang! crash! thump!" a body falls out of the 50ft Leylandii tree in my garden. I investigate and find a young Wood Pigeon... Very dead with its neck and jugular ripped open and the rest intact. Not quite ready to leave the nest and quite large. I was wondering what the heck had done the damage - A vampire squirrel? Anyway, I picked it up and disposed of the body in a hedge off my property to let nature take its course.
I then continued my pond watching and had just spotted a diving beetle when I heard more frantic flapping up high in the nearby tree. Looking up into the dense branchwork I spotted another dead pigeon on its way down but attached above it was what I at first thought was an Owl due to stubby wings and brown colouration. I soon discovered it was a Sparrowhawk and that he wasn't going to let go of his prize. As he was so focussed he wasn't much bothered by my presence only about 15ft away. As Leylandii trees have masses of branches he was having difficulties finding a way through and was somewhat handicapped by the size of his prey being almost as big as he was. He then spotted an old nest and took it there. After staring at each other for a few minutes he got the message I wasn't a threat and then proceeded to pluck and rip apart the pigeon, occasionally showering me with bits below.
Two hours later he still hadn't finished his feast! I tried to grab some photos but the bloody autofocus on my compact digital camera kept focussing on small branches and there wasn't enough light. What I also saw was a Blue Tit perch within only 6ft of the Sparrowhawk and be totally unruffled - Obviously realising it was safe at the moment.
I have a seat at the bottom of my Leylandii tree and it's amazing what goes on very privately in there.
^ The best shot I could do (not very good) - Spot the Sparrowhawk.
^ Seat under my Leylandii tree - Spot the Robin!
