SQUIRREL AND BIRD OF PREY

I wonder if it was a Sparrowhawk Ba, not as fat as a wood pigeon but similar size and grey.....good old squirrel, that would be a sight to see....:0))

Sparrowhawk or kestrel maybe, I,d google both while its fresh in your mind
I,ve watched swallows work together and chase away a red kite and crows a heron......real david and goliath stuff.....

Yes, even though you know it's the nature of the bird, you never want to witness one creature killing another. Glad the squirrel stood its ground.

Hi Janey and Pam, you're both right. I've googled and it's a sparrowhawk. I have a bird book, but the illustrations are drawings, not photos so it's hard to tell from those. I've seen a member of the crow family, not sure which one, chase a heron off my fence much to my amazement and admiration, I just thought a squirrel wouldn't bother. I've never seen a red kite, must have been amazing:-) Tuesdaybear, I don't know how to shorten your name ...Tb sounds unpleasant .. how about Tueb? I must confess to not being as keen on birds of prey and when people describe them as beautiful, although understanding why, I can't agree. I find their faces, and eyes especially, cruel looking. Herons look prehistoric and I think their eyes show very clearly their close relationship to reptiles. Having said that, I don't think reptiles look particularly cruel lol and I don't suppose any of them do as much harm to garden birds as our beloved cats:-)

The squirrels are very brave aren't they,would loved to have seen that, we have a couple in our garden of course they love raiding the bird feeders, there was one a couple of weeks ago he kept taking nuts from the feeder then going on top of the arbour to eat them suddenly he was surrounded by 5 magpies who started running up to him pecking him then stepping away, he didn't seem bothered and kept eating his peanut but once he'd finished he chased every one off.
In the spring we had a couple of birds of prey, OH said they looked like red kites land on the grass a few yards from were I was weeding they were making a right racket and fighting, the smaller bird ended up retreating into the hawthorn hedge while the larger bird circled for ages looking for it, don't know what happened but never saw either bird again, quite something to see.

Wow, I wish I had seen that Simbad. As for magpies, I've seen one chase a cat. I did see magpies fighting, holding each others claws, the noise was terrible . The one on its back was held down by the other, and more came and started to attack the bird on the bottom (not the birds bottom) so I had to run out and stop them otherwise they would have killed it. Maybe they hold courts too? I had pots down the end of the garden by the compost bin each with 5 tulip bulbs in or daffs. They have been partially emptied, would that have been squirrels? Cheeky little devils aren't they:-)

You see more red kites these days as they've been reintroduced, much bigger than the sparrowhawk, I usually see them gliding on the thermals, their tail is a sory of wedge shape and the ends of the wings more like fingers seen from the ground.....
I do agree about the heron ptereodactyls come to mind....

Yes Pam, spooky:-)

Magpies always remind me of teenage hooligans, lol, we got up one morning a couple of years ago to a right racket outside the window to find 5 or 6 of them shredding the cushion from one of our sunbeds, stuffing everywhere, we have one that buries any food I put out and comes back for it later in the day, quite funny to watch he covers it with leaves or actually makes a hole in the soil with his beak,caught them pecking our kids rabbit through the netting of his run to years ago, they were brave as it was one vicious rabbit you wore gloves to handle it :-))

Lol Simbad, Your Magpies seem very inventive, I bet you've seen magpies doing things that would surprise Bill Oddie! We could write a book, ask everyone for funny stories involving garden birds. Christmas number 1 best seller. Problem is, there is never a camera to hand at the right time ... so not many illustrations lol:-)

probably sparrow hawk i agree and may have been baby squirrels near by. never have our cameras when needed do we :o)

Some years back, one of our cats, Mojo, was ambushed by two magpies, while sitting on the fence.There was one either side of him and they took it in turns to hop or fly just close enough for him to take a swipe but miss before the other would take over from behind. They were leading him a merry dance and kept it up for at least 15 minutes. It was very comical to watch and we wished we'd had a video camera to capture it.
BA, most people abbreviate me to Tbear, as you're quite right,TB doesn't sound great!

I had to laugh at your reference to your vicious rabbit, Simbad, they can be lethal, rabbits - my sister had about 4 when her kids were small and you needed a whip and stool to get them penned up for the night, fiesty and vicious they were.
As for squirrels, I think they're really courageous - I once saw one on the shed roof with one of my cats doing that slow creep they do when they're stalking something. The squirrel appeared entirely unconcerned and ignored her, just carried on eating. Until the cat got near enough, at which point, the squirrel gave her a good shove and she fell off the roof, to the tune of the squirrel giving a good telling off as she fell...

Lol see ...we've got lots of stories. My OH and I were sitting on a church wall some years ago when a squirrel started dropping conkers on our heads from the tree above ... hilarious:-)