Sparrowhawks :)

[Ali]

Mum and dad return every year to nest here in this 'very secret place' and its hard to believe these were just eggs in April !!

They are funny to watch.... if they hear something coming they're 'squealing' but once they see it's not mum or dad they go quiet and sneak backwards into their hidey-hole..... given a few minutes and they peek back out....

There are 4 in this nest, as far as I know, I saw 3 this eve, 4 yesterday.

I plan to take my kindle, something to hide under and a glass of vino (of course!) tomorrow eve (or whichever eve has good light) and try to capture mum or dad returning to the nest.

Camera is a Nikon D80 / 200mm so I had to 'blow the photo up' a bit..... here you go......

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[bisdu]

FANTASTIC

[Ali]

Haven't seen mum or dad for the last few days! Babies are still up there tho. Hope nothing has happened to the parents

[Deleted]

Great picture Ali.

[Ali]

I'm not sure whether I posted this or not !

Update on the Ketrels (Not Sparrowhawks lol)

KESTRELS (were not Sparrowhawks) - Update. They've winged it !!!
Total delight to watch them fledge. They were close to it, I felt, last night but it was a tad windy, superb flying weather this evening smile emoticon
The first to go flew from the nest, missed it's landing point on the top of the telegraph pole and slid down the pole furiously flapping til it landed in the soft verge, a few ruffled feathers and a bit of an experience but soon it flew back up on top of the barn roof.
The other 2 (there were 4 chicks - no sight of chick 4) were exchanging places on the outside of the barn wall, clinging on to whatever they could with talons, wings and tails!
One has made it back into their nest, hopefully the others will too before dark. I left them at dusk in case mum or dad wanted to return with food,
Here's some pix smile emoticon

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[Deleted]

You lucky beggar to be able to watch this happening. The thing that amuses us is when they have just flown the nest the young blue tits will cling to the peanut feeders waiting for mum or dad to feed them!