Bird of prey

Thanks so much, Klahanie.

Having looked in a wildlife book, we think it may be a Hobby, not that we have even heard of that before! They are capable of catching Swifts and the Swallows in flight.

looks like a merlin - but not 100% - good pic anyway

I think a merlin too. Lucky you! I've only seen sparrowhawks in this garden.

It looks like a sparrow hawk Shirley as one comes into my garden and tries to get the little birds.
I have a huge hedge alongside the feeders and they can fly into that.
One time the sparrow hawk was determined to get into the hedge that it squatted down and kept pushing its body into it.
I ended up going out to clear it off. I waved my arms at it and it didn't move so got the prop and kept hitting the hedge until it gave up and flew off.

Thanks for the I.D., Paul. I had to photograph it from indoors as it would have flown off if the door or window had been opened.

I'm not happy with it as there are a few beautiful feathers on the lawn this morning - looking very much like Goldfinch colours - :o(

Ange, we have seen a couple of Sparrowhawks on the garden fence over the years, quite surprising as we are surrounded by housing and roads more than fields. The South Downs and Highdown Gardens are a few miles away and I do wonder if the birds of prey stray from that area once in a while!

Rose, I would have done just the same thing ... :o)

I know it's hard to watch the hawks hunt their prey but I make myself think that they have to eat too. It's just a matter of scale, certainly no worse than the slaughter by felines.

This is true ...

They are beautiful to see… good to capture them when they are passing by!
We often see the odd sparrowhawk in our back garden, not nice to think about them catching a little bird, but, yes, they need to survive too, I guess.

Thanks Kate, I do hope it doesn't return any time soon!

I like the raptors, but I agree it’s not nice what they have to do. We had 3 young ones raised close to my garden a couple of years back, Oh the excited noises when Mum made a kill. Later I saw them around the area, but not for a while now.( sparrow hawks). Often see kestrels around though, & red kites fly over. Good that you got a photo!

As we don't get hardly any birds on the balcony, apart from the pigeons in spring & perhaps the odd sparrow looking for cobwebs or a juicy spider, we have never seen a prey bird here. On the odd occasion when on the allotments, years ago, I saw from time to time a bird of prey way up high hovering over the allotments field but that is about the nearest I've ever seen these birds.

But like lions & tigers - or spiders, they also need to eat as well & predators keep their prey on the tips of their toes. Our sentiments would end up turning the world upside down!

I guess with only a balcony you must be quite limited with your bird visitors. Have you thought of putting up a blue tit or great tit nesting box? They would surely use it ( if you don’t have a cat)!

Josie, I was so surprised to see it by the feeders as it's almost always just the smaller birds on them. How lovely to see Kestrels and Red Kite.

The balcony itself gets few birds but I have never put up a nest box or feeders as our flat is right alongside the entrance door & with people coming & going between the 25 flats they would probably be frighted away!

We do see a few birds on the patch of grass outside the balcony but not many.

We don't have a cat & haven't had one in all the 22 years we have lived here. We did have 5 very noisy small dogs for about 7 years in this flat, (they came back to the UK with us from Spain, they were born in our flat in Spain 7 years before we returned here). When my wife retired she was given 2 Budgies by our daughter as a Christmas & retiring present. We had them for about 5 - 6 years.

It looks like a young Sparrowhawk that is moulting. The Hobby and Merlin have different colouring. We get Sparrowhawks here.