Stocktaking

Wow.  This was exciting.  I heard a crash on the roof and when I looked out of the study window I saw a cloud of feathers and a fight going on.  A female sparrowhawk had taken a stock dove off the roof.  I ran for a camera and these were the first images, taken from about 1.5m.

The dove was still very much alive at this stage and I thought it might get away (it is heavier than the sparrowhawk - 300g v 250g) but the sparrowhawk had a firm grip.  I could hear a lot of commotion from jackdaws and crows who were presumably unimpressed by having a serious killer in the garden and the sparrowhawk was mantling (shielding her prey from other birds).  I think she couldn't see me because of the reflection of the sky in the window.

Eventually the dove succumbed (I have spared you the gruesome photos) and she dragged it off into a corner where I couldn't see it.  I managed to ease open the bathroom window slightly and changed to the Panasonic TZ90 which has a small lens and a silent shutter - the sparrowhawk was again about 1.5m away and this time I think she knew I was there.

Eventually she moved a bit and I moved a bit and I could get some better pictures.

Then she dragged the dove under the front of the car and out of my view.  I waited until nearly dark before going out and this was all that was left.

According to Ian Newton's book The Sparrowhawk (1986), a female sparrowhawk can eat up to 55g of meat in one sitting (20% of her body weight), so with a kill such as this it is not surprising that she concentrates on the breast meat, the flight muscles.  A female will eat about 22kg of meat in a year, and so needs a feed such as this on average once a day.  A pair of sparrowhawks will consume the equivalent of 2,200 sparrows or 600 blackbirds or 110 wood pigeons in a year - sounds a bit like a Henry VIII banquet.

It is tough on the stock dove but that's what sparrowhawks do.  And this is what a stock dove looks like when it is not being eaten.  Ironically, this photo was taken earlier in the same day on the (male) sparrowhawk's perch.  It may even have been the same bird.