Bird of prey in the garden Saturday...

[andyjo1982]

Hi

We had a fairly big BOP visit the garden on Saturday. I managed to get 1 picture, but its not very clear, I'll try an upload tonight if I can.

Basically, there were a load of Pidgeon feathers in the garden on Saturday morning, but no body. Anyhow, we were out in the garden in the afternoon and spotted a chick on its own, probably was 10 days old or so, not able to fly I don't think. It'd been there a while, so we went in and left him on his own for a bit, in the hope maybe the mother might come back. Within 5 mins of us leaving it, there was a fairly big looking bird going to work on it, plucking feathers and generally mutilating it. The bird looked to have a yellowy/orangey/browny chest and appeared to be grey/blue coloured wings. It looked probably about 10 inches tall maybe? It was too far away to make out any other distinguishing features.

Any ideas (off my poor description) what we may have seen? If it helps, we are in a town in SW Norfolk...

Cheers

[Crusoe]

sparrowhawk

[300bhp/ton]

Did it look like this?

[mrsshpub]

I agree, certainly sounds like a male sparrowhawk.

We have several around here & they seem to have developed a taste for collared doves.

[andyjo1982]

300bhp/ton said:

Did it look like this?

That looks very much like it to me. I'll try an upload the picture later, but its really not very clear. It seemed fairly relaxed in our garden. Its not a very big garden, we have quite a few houses all around us. It must've known the youngling was there because he was on it within a few seconds.

Is it likely to nest locally or was it just a one off?

Cheers guys...

[balders118]

If you live near woodland it was most likely a sparrow hawk, if near fields it was most likely a kestral. Your description sounds more like a sparrow hawk to me, and they do like pigeons.

It's unlikely to be a peregrine as posted above.

Could love locally, keep and eye ou and see if you see him regulalrly.