Thursday, March 01, 2012

On Sunday 26th we had a Merlin stuck in our chicken run for the second time at New High Laithe, Widdop Road. The netting is 1 1/4" for scale. She seems to have been chasing birds that hang around the feeder we have out. When I got home on Sunday evening she had been in again and caught a blackbird.


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5 comments:

ChrisJB said...

It's a sparrowhawk.

Regards, Chris

1:09 pm
AndyC said...

Yes a female sparrowhawk easily confused with female merlin.Ive have up to four Sparrowhawks attacking the bird table in next doors garden all winter.Merlins will be back on territory pretty soon now.Great photos.Hope its ok.

2:04 pm
martynbirder said...

It may be an idea to put something on the mesh so the Sparrowhawk can see it and avoid it

3:29 pm
Nick Carter said...

So it is, must admit on a quick look at the top photo I passed it off as a Merlin too.

6:01 pm
Mick Cunningham said...

Great photo of my favourite bird. As a kid in the DDT era I used to dream of seeing one they were so rare;happily one raptor that's got commoner. The photo is so sharp I can see heart-shaped bars on upper breast and neat fringes to upperparts and coverts, so I think it's a 2 calendar year ie a bird born last year. Merlins are lovely, but sprawks are under-rated. Yes, let's hope it avoids the mesh in future.Out looking for early display tomorrow!

12:26 am

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