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Sue H writes:

Recently, I have had not one but three incidents where sparrowhawks have pinned birds to the ground virtually in front of me! I find it absolutely amazing to see this life and death struggle played out before me. The first time was late winter when I saw a sparrowhawk pinning a flapping blackbird to the verge just outside our house. As I was in the car, I could only stop and watch until forced to move on by another car coming. I was there for at least a minute with the sparrowhawk frozen mid-hunt. I quickly parked the car and ran back but both birds had gone…Did the sparrowhawk get its meal? Did the blackbird escape?

Then, over the Easter break, I was quietly painting windows on our terrace when there was a whoosh, a thud, a lot of feathers and many birds flying around protesting. Just yards from where I stood, possibly the same sparrowhawk had its claws into a pigeon no less! Again, there was a kind of freeze-frame when nobody moved. Tentatively, I took a step and off flew the sparrowhawk releasing the pigeon, perhaps unable to take off with its weight. Again, I wonder if the pigeon made it because along with the feathers there were spots of blood.

This week I was quietly weeding in the garden. This time, not my own but the home of our renowned bird photographer John F-S. If only he had been outside with his camera!  Once again, just yards from me, a sparrowhawk emerged from a shrub, again pursued by protesting birds, carrying a female blackbird. The bird was dropped pretty promptly and I was just left in wonder at being a witness to all this hunting. I have never seen such activity before – has anyone else had such instances of sparrowhawks in their gardens?

The last amusing thing to happen was when another blackbird was dropped unceremoniously from the sky right between myself and Marion F-S! Stunned, it lay still and then shuffled off. I guess the sparrowhawk missed its meal yet again!

From now on, I think John F-S needs to shadow me with his camera whenever I’m in the garden! It would be fantastic to get some shots of this amazing bird in action.

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