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A little bit of mojo

6 comments


This morning I decided to clear out the weeds and finished broad beans from my veg patch.

The surface 2cm of the soil was damp after the rain of yesterday. But any deeper then the soil is bone dry.

It didn’t take long to clear and the radishes and carrots came up too as neither crop had done any good.

I puddled in my leeks and I must remember to keep watering them to keep them going.

Now my veg patch used to be a fruit cage so I was ‘captive’ and ‘in the zone’ when I noticed the local blackies going berserk. I looked up and 10ft away was a female sparrow hawk with a wood pigeon. I’d seen a headless one first thing this morning but didn’t move it. Glad I didn’t as she clearly came back for it. I was knelt down for over 40 minutes whilst she fed herself.

3 hours later she was back but not sure if it was a fresh bird or the same one but again she was down for about 50 mins.

Hubby did take pictures of her but I will have to wait for them.

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Comments

 

They are impressive birds, aren't they? I can cope with the pigeons ( harsh, I know) but I find it hard when they catch young blackbirds first thing in the morning. Nature is brutal and there's no point in being sentimental, but not easy to hear! We have pigeon fathers scattered all over the grass in the front of our house - obviously a sparrowhawk feeding its chicks. It visits regularly as a number of us feed the birds - easy pickings!
Still no rain to speak of here, and none forecast.

2 Aug, 2022

 

Crikey, your mojo has bounced back! Good to hear, Eileen.
The sparrowhawk is a beauty, I guess we have to think it's hungry or going to regurgitate for her young...
We've removed our seed feeder as the wood pigeons were making such a mess! Our little steps and log shed and the area around there was horrid...
Plus we had the odd rat..yuk.
We kept the nut feeder which is among shrubbery. The pigeon population was driving me mad..ok so there was a max of 5 at one time, but it seems like a horde when you've a small garden.
Look forward to your pics! Ps. I bought some radishes today!

2 Aug, 2022

 

We sometimes get sparrow hawks here, but don't like to see them when they catch one of the smaller birds!
In Willow Cottage one day , a sparrow hawk took a green finch from the bird table, sat on an arch and proceeded to eat it! Not a pleasant sight even though I know they have to feed their young too!

3 Aug, 2022

 

We get lots of pigeons here & they are forever messing up the balcony! This past winter was an exceptional one for them as they sat on the balcony railings on the 4th floor directly above our balcony & their dropping made a terrible mess. I had to go out on many morning to sweep the balcony clean! I wouldn't mind a Sparrowhawk or two here to keep them away!

Just this morning I found half an egg shell among the Geraniums on the balcony railings! A couple of months ago I even found a whole & completely undamaged egg among the plants on the railings! Did I keep it or try to hatch it??? (As my granddaughter asked me when I told her about it) NO! I'm fed up with the horrible things dirtying the balcony! It's also dangerous when the dropping have been wetted by some rain as they are very slippery!

3 Aug, 2022

 

Balcony, can you not get your higher up neighbours to put something spiky on their railings to stop this problem as it is a health hazard? Perhaps you could contact someone to enforce it, if they do not comply willingly. We had the same problem where I lived once & the owners of the building soon solved it with some netting, though I guess you will
need more than netting to solve the problem in your case.

3 Aug, 2022

 

Haven't seen a sparrowhawk in our garden or evidence of one visiting for years, we have Red Kites flying over nearly every hour, they are also beautiful birds, sometimes they swoop across very low, I think someone living beyond the scout hut feeds them, Peregrine Falcons were introduced in Stamford a few years back especially to help cull the pigeons, they live on All Saints Church which is in the square, we often get photo's on the local wildlife page...I knew you wouldn't be long before getting back into the garden Seaburn....

4 Aug, 2022

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