The sparrowhawk is now having a noticeable impact on the birds in the garden. There are many fewer around, and not just because he has eaten them all. The small birds have more or less abandoned the kitchen garden where he is most likely to be. As a measure of that the feeder there is usually emptied in less than two days but is now going down by less than 1cm per day. Even when he is not around they somehow recognise it as a place of danger and avoid it.
His favourite place to sit is now on top of the compost bins where he is sheltered and partly hidden. He can sit there for half a day, with an occasional foray to the feeders on the other side of the house if he gets bored or needs to stretch his wings. This is a nuisance for me as well, partly because he is difficult to photograph there but mainly because he can see the garage and the greenhouse so I have to be careful not to disturb him.
There are almost no tree sparrows around and many fewer starlings than I would expect at this time of year - both species are normally jostling for the best nest sites in the boxes or in tree holes.
Here he is under the gooseberries, having just eaten his lunch and looking round for some more.
He still sometimes sits on top of the feeder but there are now rarely any birds in the gooseberry bushes so that doesn't work well for him.
I am pleased to say that he is still sometimes using the perch I put up for him and is looking after himself - spending more time preening than when he first arrived in the garden. Here you can see he has recently fed because he still has blood on his feet.
In the past two years the sparrowhawks hanging around the garden have disappeared in March so this one may not be here much longer. If he does move on the tree sparrows will be pleased.
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