Sparrow hawk

[Pirate 9000 676]

Got large female spar hunts in my garden regular,some people hate them killing small birds but they are just part of nature and I like watching her she will fly through the garden sometimes 4 or 5 times before she is successful.

[lanesra 3,994]

The bid feeders create a sort of sparrow hawk take away self service in my garden , imagine how many times we dont see them when their about as in a blink of an eye there gone , love seeing them  , as nice a sight you'll see in the British countryside is a sparrow hawk  in a wood . 

[South hams hunter 8,924]

We've feeders in the garden and I've seen it take a few Goldie's and sparrows. It was even roosting in the tree for a while

[keepitcovert 842]

Once when driving down a hilly road in sledmere east yorks i saw one flying along a hedge on my right hand side  i slowed down to watch it, it was hedge hopping low down and kept switching from one side of the hedge to the other i followed it for about a mile when it spooked a bird from the hedge what i think was a linnet, in a flash it nabbed it, its legs stretched out what looked like half its body length, an amazing sight. Seen a few occasions where  one is eating a kill wings hooded over their prey, when hunting they always seem to be very low to the ground, and very fast great to see though.

[sussex 5,777]

We get them fairly regularly after the birds on the feeders , seen them strike a couple of times over the years , it really is all over in a second  with just the odd feather floating down  , both times that I have seen it there was only a couple of birds using the feeder    , when there are lots on them he they don’t seem to try , they often fly across but never seem interested ..

[Mr Wilkes 3,026]

I feed birds all year and regularly see sparrowhawks catch in my garden, the feeders are two foot away from my front window and to see a wild sparrowhawk stood on the bird table with a bird he just caught is unbelievable , they land on the floor and run around a privet bush trying to flush whichever bird they’ve put in there.. remarkable birds

[C.green 3,231]

20 hours ago, Pirate 9000 said:

Got large female spar hunts in my garden regular,some people hate them killing small birds but they are just part of nature and I like watching her she will fly through the garden sometimes 4 or 5 times before she is successful.

Kill wild birds allday long doesnt fuss me but when they start killing valuable stock my opinion changes a little bit. I think quite a few birds of prey need controlling now to be honest.

[bell 3,606]

27 minutes ago, C.green said:

Kill wild birds allday long doesnt fuss me but when they start killing valuable stock my opinion changes a little bit. I think quite a few birds of prey need controlling now to be honest.

What valuable stock do they kill mate ?

[Pirate 9000 676]

Working on a farm today catching rats male spar came swooping over maize clamp and grabbed sparrow which was feeding  on clamp, farmer said if I had a gun I would shoot it,and then said them bloody sparrows want thinning out has well, you really can't teach stupid.

[Greyman 28,762]

18 minutes ago, C.green said:

Kill wild birds allday long doesnt fuss me but when they start killing valuable stock my opinion changes a little bit. I think quite a few birds of prey need controlling now to be honest.

Got to totally disagree with that, a healthy population of alpha predators is a clear indicator of a healthy balance right down the food chain,, kestrels and owls need lots of voles,rats and mice right the way up to the biggest of raptors needing bigger prey, your valuable stock as you put it have zero impact on the ecosystem and would have zero impact if they did,nt excist, nothing takes care of nature better than nature itself, all we do is f**k things up, during my lifetime we have already pushed them to the brink of extincsion once, that will do for me thanks 

[C.green 3,231]

14 minutes ago, bell said:

What valuable stock do they kill mate ?

Native finches aviary birds racing pigeons. From my experience.

[C.green 3,231]

11 minutes ago, Greyman said:

Got to totally disagree with that, a healthy population of alpha predators is a clear indicator of a healthy balance right down the food chain,, kestrels and owls need lots of voles,rats and mice right the way up to the biggest of raptors needing bigger prey, your valuable stock as you put it have zero impact on the ecosystem and would have zero impact if they did,nt excist, nothing takes care of nature better than nature itself, all we do is f**k things up, during my lifetime we have already pushed them to the brink of extincsion once, that will do for me thanks 

So 21 buzzards over a single field is a good thing is it ? Control is alot different to wiping out a pair here or there no one minds them but they need there numbers keeping jn check same with otters and badgers.

[bell 3,606]

35 minutes ago, C.green said:

Native finches aviary birds racing pigeons. From my experience.

Well its only Spars that will attack aviaries and Peregrine, Gos and the odd Spar that will take racing pigeon...….so think we should shoot them then mate ?

[Meece 1,958]

23 hours ago, Pirate 9000 said:

Got large female spar hunts in my garden regular,some people hate them killing small birds but they are just part of nature and I like watching her she will fly through the garden sometimes 4 or 5 times before she is successful.

I was at the kitchen sink and a hawk hit on a sparrow on the lawn. The poor blighter looked up and you could see the fear. " today aint going to end up good". The hawk took off with sparrow in claw and flew off over the hedge over the road. The problem is that they haven't got a Tesco to go and get their food. Nature is cruel.

[Greyman 28,762]

1 hour ago, C.green said:

So 21 buzzards over a single field is a good thing is it ? Control is alot different to wiping out a pair here or there no one minds them but they need there numbers keeping jn check same with otters and badgers.

Buzzards are far more of a scavenger than a hunter that's why no one fly,s them, they eat mostly dead or sick animals and a lot of worms, there is normally a lot of them over one field because it's been recently ploughed and the worms are easy to get, in a small valley near me there are 27 breeding pairs of buzzards and a very expensive pheasant shoot, they all get on just fine, peregrines take pigeons and we still don't have enough of them sparrowhawks take finch,s and if there was,nt an abundance of finch,s there would,nt be an abundance of sparrow Hawks that's how nature works, on the dock near my house there are at least 6 breeding pairs of peregrines and a 1000 breeding pairs of feral pigeons it's a perfect balance ,predators are an indicator of a healthy system and will often eat there own young if prey is in short supply which keeps the balance, otters and badgers would be kept in check if we had,nt already removed all the predators that would have predated them,  NATURE SUFFERS NOT FEAST NOR FAMIN and we would do well to remember that before playing god