Sparrowhawk

[Wildfisher]

I have a real soft spot for Sparrowhawks.

I like them too. The speed is impressive. I have never seen one of their larger cousins, a goshawk, but apparently they are sparrowhawks on steroids.

[tomcatin]

I like them too. The speed is impressive.

They are awesome in flight; fast and incredibly agile  ........ I love seeing them when they are flying hard and fast close to the deck, with just the occassional beat of their wings and the long looping high speed glide while bobbing around hedgerows and trees.

Spooked our local resident on the way to work this morning! 

[Wildfisher]

One of the most extraordinary things I witnessed back in the 1990s involved a sparrow hawk.

We were working outside in our alpine plant nursery and noticed a great commotion in the next field. A great flock of rooks was mobbing something on the ground which turned out to be a sparrowhawk that had downed a young rook and was standing on top of it. Eventually the hawk must have decided it had bitten off more than it could chew and flew off. Straight  away the downed young rook got up and rejoined the flock.