Sunday 22 September 2013

Sparrowhawk gets Collared Dove

Sunday morning 22nd September 2013, a fine sunny morning and I had just gone into the kitchen to make a cup of tea when I gave a cursory glance out of the window at the bird feeder. One Stock Dove was sat below eating some spilt seeds when a Collared Dove flew across the garden with a Sparrowhawk in hot pursuit.

The Stock Dove flew off sharpish and the Collared Dove made some twisting manoeuvres, before flying straight at me and the kitchen window.....THUD !! No doubt the Dove was dead instantly and the Sparrowhawk was on it!!!


I grabbed my Samsung Galaxy S4 and managed this blurry shot before this adult female bird spotted me and flew a bit further out into the garden with her prey.

Here she started a plucking and boy could she pluck........


After a while, a cheeky Magpie flew down and started pestering the Sparrowhawk, hopping up behind and nipping at her tail. This was quite intriguing to watch and as well as the next photo, I managed a small amount of video footage.


Real Magpie by Sparrowhawk, not plastic like the ornamental bird on the right !! Wonder what the gnome made of it all ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_CQ5NQ_NGU&feature=player_detailpage

Just shows you like in nature, you don't know what's around the corner. Hope you enjoyed.



1 comment:

  1. HI Mike Just discovered your blog when i was looking at Keith's blog,have not joined your. That was amazing to see and I would have thought that Magpie was mad to go so near a Sparrowhawk. Great to catch it on video. Any chance of changing the 'idiot' thing when people comment? keith helped me change mine!

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