We have a tiny back garden at home (huge allotment though) We`ve always had a great range and number of garden birds and feed them all the year. The other day we were amazed to see a male sparrowhawk sweep across the garden and into a big japonica shrub used as a tenement by sparrows. It emerged with a sparrow in its talons and flew away. The next day it returned and did the same thing with the same result. Today the garden is empty of small birds and the feeders are untouched. It was great to see the hawk close up but we`d be choked if the sparrows and bluetits etc didn`t return. Any thoughts anybody?
Eileen
Sparrowhawk
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
Try to position your feeders where there is plenty of cover for the small birds,Sparrowhawks hunt by skimming along one side of a hedge to drive the birds out the other side and then flipping to that side to catch one,so they need a straight run and wont like cover in their way.If you're a regular food source for the small birds they'll soon be back.
Carole.
Carole.
At our last house which was in a busy area of Leicester suburbia we had an old line of tall trees along the bottom of all the gardens, with a fair amount of free flight area on one side - exactly what Carole is describing. One afternoon we got back home to find a sparrow hawk systematically shredding a woodpigeon at the bottom of the garden. My husband, being a birdwatcher, was thrilled and watched the whole meal!We didn't have many sparrows. I don't know if the hawk had anything to do with that. But we did have a tremendous variety of birds in the garden and through the trees locally. I think they'll be scared for a time and then come back, and so will the hawk - a bit like a heron to a pond - intermittently.
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Guest
Thank you! We`ll keep feeding and check the location of the feeders. I think that we got such a lot of small birds because they felt so safe - our greyhound keeps the garden totally free of cats. Oh well, it WAS great to see the sparrowhawk!
Eileen
Eileen