Sparrow Hawk Prey Items.

[The one 8,463]

Last week two of us came round a corner as one got a pigeon in a alcove don't know who got the biggest fright but it fled the scene and the pigeon walked into some bushes

[Fieldsporthunter 1,864]

Funny this topic popping up now. . .

a sparrow hawk took a robin then landed on our cattle crush only yards away from me, two days ago.

[MOLE265 792]

Were have all the songbirds gone?

 

Used to keep racing pigeons and the hen sparrowhawk was more than a pest from September till March.

[fireman 10,869]

As a bird keeper i hate them and a few won't be comming back to torment my birds(i scared them off very well )but i watched one take a young rat on a farm i hunt rats on last winter,it came over our shoulders as we were mooching about with a couple of terriers and took the rat about 30 yrds in front of us.It just picked it up and carried on flying,saw another one hit a starling on my front garden and ran outside to watch it but i spooked it and it let go and flew off,i didn't feel that bad at saving the starling ..

[perthshire keeper 1,239]

you must all be wrong...don't yous know they only eat dandelion roots and turnip tops...not a vast array of our struggling and declining song bird population

[Fat-Ferret 857]

I saw one pull down a Black bird...Amazing!!

[undisputed 1,664]

One from last year, pishing down

[budharley 945]

Seen a few kills , a couple that stand out was watching one chase a starling over a cross road both getting hit by a car . The one that is the best ,I was fishing at last light when a female whizzed past me and took a bat out the air from over the water ??

[dytkos 17,784]

Lamped a barn owl catching a mouse a couple of months back and seen peregrines take pigeons off Truro cathedral.

 

Cheers, D.

[Accip74 7,112]

you must all be wrong...don't yous know they only eat dandelion roots and turnip tops...not a vast array of our struggling and declining song bird population

Yaaaaaaawwwwwwn.........

[Chicken_man 1,651]

Good pic AT.

Atb

[bell 3,591]

Picked these 2 off the road last year...........the Spar was living upto its name !

 

 

[fireman 10,869]

How about this although not a spar but on the shoot today a fella told me his pal the other day was taking pics of a barn owl and a buzzard came and hit it in flight,they fell to the ground and the fella taking the pics ran over and seperated them,the buzzard flew straight up and then swooped down to hit the owl again but the owl dodged the grab and the buzzard hit the ground in a heap.The owl then took it's chance and made good it's escape and the buzzard also made off after a few mins,wish i'd seen that and the fella was so mesmerized by what was happening his didn't take any pics of it ..

[neil cooney 10,416]

Fireman, I like you, you're a nice fellow, BUT that never happened. That Barn Owl was injured by someone on the shoot. WAS IT YOU ?

Seriously though, that, would not surprise me one bit. I would not begrudge an Owl , a Kestrel and (because they're scarcer now) a Spar a kill but the fact that there's no fallen stock left out anymore and there's no myxy around here but yet I can see 4,5 or 6 Buzzards in a morning tells me that they hunt to survive and IMO anything is fair game.

I walk across a field of stubble everyday and I was there when it was harvested and they spilled half the wheat. It should be covered in Pigeons, Pheasants and other grain eaters. I let 20 Pheasants on to it.

There's a Buzzard sit's on the one perch every day over looking the field and the field is barren. I haven't even seen a flock of Pigeons on the field, yet, up the road there's 1000s.

The only bird life are a few Grey Crows that now and then mob the Buzzard.

They're nice, I admire them, but they need thinning out.

[fireman 10,869]

Neil i like you to and no i'm not trying to groom you ,when we had started putting out the partridges this last summer we were going out to let a few more trickle out and do the feed etc and a partridge came round a bush and went under the landy i was driving and a buzzard,well how it didn't smash into the landy i do not know but my god did i get a look at it as it came up over the bonnet and windscreen .Another time i was road working the dogs and a few partridge got put out the hedge on the back lane i was driving down (lazy i know but feck riding a bike )and a buzzard came in and tried footing one of them,my dogs found a young buzzard out downed out on a local common last year and it's parents were over head,it tried footing a couple of the terriers.I did leave it there although i knew it needed help as feck being caught with a young a wild bird of prey....And yes there getting well out of hand and your right do they bollocks just live on carrion and need a thin out for sure...