We saw it again this morning, in its original spot by the cedar tree.
But this time, it was dive-bombing a rook on the ground! What an
exhausting life! Anyhow, it was swooping back and forth, and seemed to
be trying to get the rook away, so that suggested to us that it is
probably nesting lower down in that tree, or somewhere closeby.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

"Sacha" wrote in message ...

We saw it again this morning, in its original spot by the cedar tree.
But this time, it was dive-bombing a rook on the ground! What an
exhausting life! Anyhow, it was swooping back and forth, and seemed to
be trying to get the rook away, so that suggested to us that it is
probably nesting lower down in that tree, or somewhere closeby.
--

Sacha
.................................................. ..............

We have had an interesting visitation this morning from a Blue Tit to a
Robin Box. The BT Box was used last year to raise 4 but not in use this
year. The Robin Box has never been used, but just after Christmas I trimmed
my beard, (I had grown it for my work for Charities as a Father Christmas)
and shoved the trimmings in the Robin Box. This morning a Blue Tit has been
backwards and forwards to the Robin Box gathering nice soft nesting material
:-)

Mike

On 11/04/2013 09:00, Sacha wrote:
We saw it again this morning, in its original spot by the cedar tree.
But this time, it was dive-bombing a rook on the ground! What an
exhausting life! Anyhow, it was swooping back and forth, and seemed to
be trying to get the rook away, so that suggested to us that it is
probably nesting lower down in that tree, or somewhere closeby.

Strange.
This afternoon as I was having lunch I was watching a Collard Dove
giving a Magpie hell, it wouldn't leave it in peace, just kept after it..

On 2013-04-11 13:36:12 +0100, David Hill said:

On 11/04/2013 09:00, Sacha wrote:
We saw it again this morning, in its original spot by the cedar tree.
But this time, it was dive-bombing a rook on the ground! What an
exhausting life! Anyhow, it was swooping back and forth, and seemed to
be trying to get the rook away, so that suggested to us that it is
probably nesting lower down in that tree, or somewhere closeby.

Strange.
This afternoon as I was having lunch I was watching a Collard Dove
giving a Magpie hell, it wouldn't leave it in peace, just kept after
it..

Perhaps the dove has eggs and the magpie knows it! Some of the rooks
are still nest-building. I saw a female flying up into the tree with a
twig in her mouth, so either she's a late starter, or she's doing
running repairs!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

In article ,
says...

We saw it again this morning, in its original spot by the cedar tree.
But this time, it was dive-bombing a rook on the ground! What an
exhausting life! Anyhow, it was swooping back and forth, and seemed to
be trying to get the rook away, so that suggested to us that it is
probably nesting lower down in that tree, or somewhere closeby.

Coincidently, as I was just coming up stairs to the
computer I stopped at the stair landing window to
watch the birds on the feeders for a moment (or 6!).
Suddenly the birds took froght and a sparrow hawk
swooped down, landing on the now empty lawn, but with
a tit of somesort between its claws. I was tempted to
bang the window in the hope it would let go of the
tit, but didn't, deciding it was probably dead anyway,
and the sparrow hawk needed feeding anyway. He sat on
the lawn in full view for about 90 seconds before
flying off with his dinner.

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...

We saw it again this morning, in its original spot by the cedar tree.
But this time, it was dive-bombing a rook on the ground! What an
exhausting life! Anyhow, it was swooping back and forth, and seemed to
be trying to get the rook away, so that suggested to us that it is
probably nesting lower down in that tree, or somewhere closeby.

Coincidently, as I was just coming up stairs to the
computer I stopped at the stair landing window to
watch the birds on the feeders for a moment (or 6!).
Suddenly the birds took froght and a sparrow hawk
swooped down, landing on the now empty lawn, but with
a tit of somesort between its claws. I was tempted to
bang the window in the hope it would let go of the
tit, but didn't, deciding it was probably dead anyway,
and the sparrow hawk needed feeding anyway. He sat on
the lawn in full view for about 90 seconds before
flying off with his dinner.

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

.................................................. .................

This is the problem Roger, "we" provide the feeding stations for the birds
we love to see, "we" provide the feeding station for the birds we do not
really wish to see.

Mike

On 11/04/2013 17:42, 'Mike' wrote:


"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...

We saw it again this morning, in its original spot by the cedar tree.
But this time, it was dive-bombing a rook on the ground! What an
exhausting life! Anyhow, it was swooping back and forth, and seemed to
be trying to get the rook away, so that suggested to us that it is
probably nesting lower down in that tree, or somewhere closeby.

Coincidently, as I was just coming up stairs to the
computer I stopped at the stair landing window to
watch the birds on the feeders for a moment (or 6!).
Suddenly the birds took froght and a sparrow hawk
swooped down, landing on the now empty lawn, but with
a tit of somesort between its claws. I was tempted to
bang the window in the hope it would let go of the
tit, but didn't, deciding it was probably dead anyway,
and the sparrow hawk needed feeding anyway. He sat on
the lawn in full view for about 90 seconds before
flying off with his dinner.


I've watched a Sparrow Hawk fly into a large Hawthorn hedge after a
small bird. and another time watched as one held onto the feeder with
one claw and probed inside trying to get a grip on a Blue Tit inside
with the other.
The Sparrow Hawk flies along the track so any mice I catch get left on
the track and they always go within an hour or so.

On 2013-04-11 16:35:21 +0100, Martin said:

On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:56:03 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2013-04-11 13:36:12 +0100, David Hill said:

On 11/04/2013 09:00, Sacha wrote:
We saw it again this morning, in its original spot by the cedar tree.
But this time, it was dive-bombing a rook on the ground! What an
exhausting life! Anyhow, it was swooping back and forth, and seemed to
be trying to get the rook away, so that suggested to us that it is
probably nesting lower down in that tree, or somewhere closeby.

Strange.
This afternoon as I was having lunch I was watching a Collard Dove
giving a Magpie hell, it wouldn't leave it in peace, just kept after
it..

Perhaps the dove has eggs and the magpie knows it! Some of the rooks
are still nest-building. I saw a female flying up into the tree with a
twig in her mouth, so either she's a late starter, or she's doing
running repairs!

or one of Noah's. Was it an olive twig?
We had torrential rain all night. The temperature peaked at 11C and is
back down to 7C.
Could this be autumn?

We have had showers, a serious but short downpour and now it's dry
again. We also had plenty of bouts of sunshine and it did feel like a
spring day for much of the time. X fingers!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

In article ,
Roger Tonkin writes
Coincidently, as I was just coming up stairs to the
computer I stopped at the stair landing window to
watch the birds on the feeders for a moment (or 6!).
Suddenly the birds took froght and a sparrow hawk
swooped down, landing on the now empty lawn, but with
a tit of somesort between its claws. I was tempted to
bang the window in the hope it would let go of the
tit, but didn't, deciding it was probably dead anyway,
and the sparrow hawk needed feeding anyway. He sat on
the lawn in full view for about 90 seconds before
flying off with his dinner.


A few years ago, a sparrowhawk caught a starling in my garden. I
managed to grab a (not very good) video recorder and filmed it for a
while. It wasn't put off by me going outside and getting quite close to
it (although kept moving further away if I got too close). It was a
very 'red in tooth and claw' moment - although the starling wasn't
making it easy.

Eventually, the hawk dragged it off to a puddle and seemed to be holding
its head down in the water until it gave up the struggle - at which
point the hawk flew off with the starling - although it seemed to
struggle to get height.

Quite an experience.

--
regards andyw