Thursday 21 June 2012

Sparrowhawks re-visited

Another window of photographic opportunity in the continuing wet spring and summer in Cornwall allowed me a couple of hours at my hide for the sparrowhawks.

I am now getting a lot higher and can view the nest site pretty much on the same level and can see that there are now only 2 surviving chicks being fed.

They seem to be feeding regularly so maybe the cold nights or dominant siblings have seen the demise of the others.

They didn't want any of the first prey item brought to the nest at 07:45, maybe they'd just eaten so the female took it away (it was already plucked by the male) and probably ate it herself or cached it.

When the male called again nearby at 09:00 she left the nest and quickly brought back another prey item and the chicks ate this when she fed them it in tiny morsels.


Female sparrowhawk and chicks


Female sparrowhawk and chick

Female sparrowhawk

4 comments:

Bobbster said...

Good shots Adrian, definitely a better angle

swopticsphoto said...

Agree with Bob - a better angle. Lovely images as well. Steve.

Sam and Lisa said...

Superb, even better than before.
Sam

Adrian Langdon said...

Thanks for that, it was worth the effort of erecting 16 sections of tower scaffold about 50 feet away. The female just sat in the nest and watched me, somewhat bemused!
The scaffold is amongst quite heavy willow trees so doesn't stand out at all and is covered head to toe in camo netting.
The lenghths some people go to eh!