There was a small, non-descriptive bird sitting almost motionless on a branch above the summerhouse in our garden today. At first I thought it was a thrush, but it had stayed there too long for it to be a thrush. It took binoculars from an upstairs window to identify it as a male sparrow-hawk. Unusually in the bird world the male sparrow hawk is smaller than the female.
No wonder the small birds which are usually busy pecking at the contents of our bird feeders had fled. They knew it was there, watching and waiting.
Much as we like to see goldfinches, greenfinches, blue tits, long-tailed tits etc in our garden, we didn’t scare the sparrow hawk off. Birds aren’t there for our entertainment, that’s only a welcome side effect. Sparrow hawks have to eat too.
To paraphrase Bill Clinton, “it’s the environment, stupid”.
Andy Hamilton
