Talkback: Sparrowhawk overhead - Talkback

15/10/2009 at 17:11

I hate the damn things, nothing is keeping their numbers down. they are costantly in my garden. we have no pigions. so they pick off my song birds, i have very tame black birds & a couple of treasured thrush's. I am sick of finding feathers all over the lawn. They have regular feeding times, so if im in i can foil their feeding on my birds.So next time give a thought to birds we love to hear & deter them from your garden.

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15/10/2009 at 17:48

they are lovely birds,but like the other comments i wish they wouldnt catch the smaller garden birds.i have one that has twice now landed outside my window with a black bird and pigion for his breakfast,and all that was left was a puff of feathers on the lawn..and have i got my camera ready for a shot of the bird!!! no,he lands about three feet away from the window,a love/hate bird.

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15/10/2009 at 18:20

Last year l also saw one it was trying to get to sparrows in the front garden hedge

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15/10/2009 at 19:54

We have a sparrowhawk that is quite a regular. Thankfully, nine times out of ten he flies off empty taloned. Unfortunatly now and then he catches a woodpigeon or collared dove, as they usually sit atop a tree and are an easy feast for the sparrowhawk.

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15/10/2009 at 20:05

In the past year or two I have had sparrow hawks hunting through/over my garden with sightings now becoming quite common to my delight. I am still hoping to be visited by a peregrine as they are known to be in the area especially if it can knock a few feathers off that damned grey assassin that seeks my fish and frogs. According to my bird handbook, there is very little difference between the wingspans of kestrels and sparrow hawks with the former being the slightly bigger. I admit I was very surprised to learn that. It is sad when a rarer species becomes the prey but don't forget how scarce raptors became thanks to DDT and other poisons, so we should consider ourselves fortunate to be visited by them and try to appreciate their supreme flying skill.

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15/10/2009 at 20:16

We used to have a grand sparrow hawk living in our garden. He kept the pigeons and rabbits down to reasonable numbers. Now he is gone the pigeons and rabbits are a growing problem even though we had mixamatosis in the summer. He never bothered my small birds and they were not frightened of him. He built the worst nest I've ever seen.

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16/10/2009 at 06:11

A few weeks ago I was outside watching dozens and dozens of swallows swooping about getting ready for their long journeys from these shores. It really was a fantastic sight.........then all of a sudden a sparrowhawk appeared from nowhere and took a swallow.....all the other swallows mobbed the hawk....their alarm calls were deafening!! I couldn't see whether or not they made him drop his prey but it was a pretty amazing thing to witness.

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16/10/2009 at 08:34

Interesting. I see hovering birds but from far away. Always wonder what they are. :)

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16/10/2009 at 09:49

I first saw one a few years ago, zigzagging low across my front garden and settling in the viburnum. It was a thrilling sight, but I can relate to susanc's 'love/hate' comment. It's easier to feel ok about creatures' need to hunt when you don't see them do it!

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16/10/2009 at 16:30

I loathe them, with a vengeance, to see them carrying off a shrieking starling with the starlings mate in hot pursuit, it also calling turns my stomach. I dont like them, I never will... and no, I dont eat meat. We have them in our garden all the time. I do understand that they are only being a sparrowhawk, but I totally disagree that they wouldnt eat all the birds in their own territory, as well known organisations say. What with cats, window strikes, and loss of habitat birds are having a tough time. Its time to limit their numbers in my not so humble opinion

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16/10/2009 at 17:27

I was delighted when my local sparrow hawks nested in my garden. It was lovely to see the parents come to to the ground to feed the youngster and to see the chick climbing into one of my large trees for the night. They mainly eat the pigeons in my garden and although I do not especislly like to see them killing the songbirds I know they have to eat and are fighting to rear their youngster. The RSPB have investigated sparrow hawks effects on songbirds and found that sparrow do not reduce the songbird population in a garden and if the sparrow hawk vanished, songbird numbers would not increase. Sparrow hawks only live for about 3 years. I will be very sorry to loose mine.

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16/10/2009 at 21:10

One flew into my wife as she cornered our bungalow - it was being mobbed by several other birds, chaos ensued as the chase barrelled around Jen's legs!

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17/10/2009 at 09:25

hate sparrowhawks as they pick up our small garden birds used to have lots of greatspoted woodpeakers here down to two or three pairs now, and there the green finch is disapearing

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17/10/2009 at 13:17

Yes - what an amazing sight to see a sparrowhawk swoop through your garden! Sadly, the one who hunts here isn't big enough yet to threaten the flock of pigeons which are the bane of my life, so it is usually the bluetits or sparrows who get caught. I live in hope, though, that one day a large female will start to hunt in Cardiff - then watch out, you pigeons - aka flying rats!!!

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19/10/2009 at 09:33

Reply to Mike Great anecdote. Thanks for that.

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19/10/2009 at 19:47

In reply to Helen about sparrowhawks eating all the birds in its terratory, I disagree. We have these birds frequently in our garden, and I often see them high up flying around, and our bird population is thriving. I feed the birds all year round and their number has not dropped.

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21/10/2009 at 21:24

If the raptors are doing well everything's doing well.

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22/10/2009 at 20:38

yes I spotted a sparrow hawk about 2weeks ago in our Allotment in Coventry perched on the neighbours entrance. My husband went out to check what it was and it flew off low over head.at first we thought it was a pigeon hence investigating it.

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23/10/2009 at 09:37

100,000 pairs of sparrow hawks,each bird needs to eat at least two small songbirds every day to survive.times that by 365 and then tell me you still think what a wonderfull bird.I see nothing great in witnessing a sparrowhawk catch a bird and pluck and eat it while still alive.they don't look pretty they can't sing all they do is kill.if they are such a common sight in your gardens how can they be classed as rare and an endangerd speices?

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23/10/2009 at 16:23

I certainly have never said I enjoy seeing these birds catch and kill, I dont, but this is the way they survive. They have been around for a long long time, who are we to say they must be culled. Life is not always the way we want it to be. I disagree thatthe sparrowhawk is not pretty, it is a beautiful bird.