Monday 21 February 2011

Yesterdays series of photo's prompted a few responses, and quite rightly, in my opinion. Most were agreed that it was an unpleasant thing to witness, but something we should play no part in.
The temptation to help the victim of a Sprawk attack is very strong, but remember, once the victim has been knocked to the floor and is being gripped by those talons, it is as good as dead. If the Sprawk was flushed off, the victim may well be able to fly away, but it will most likely die of infection to the wounds, or be unable to fend for itself due to injury, and so die a lingering death. It's not a good idea to intervene, just turn away!!

Back to today, and you'll be pleased to know that there was no sign of a Sparrowhawk in my garden or on my patch this afternoon :-) One thing that hasn't changed though is this grey, damp weather, it was also quite chilly and I was pleased i'd taken my scarf and gloves along with me.

All was much the same as it has been in recent days, a mix of Tits and Finch's were in the Alpaca enclosure at the Small Holding, with a GREEN WOODPECKER on a nearby large garden lawn, TREECREEPER, GOLDCREST and NUTHATCH were either singing or calling in the Wet woods, with just half a dozen SISKIN in the Alders.

The lakes held 2 CANADA GEESE, they were on the main lake, with 2 pairs of MALLARD, only 1 pair of MOORHEN was about, they were on the ornamental lake, and the small lake was empty. In the Scrubby Woods, at least 4 BULLFINCH were heard, a small party of LONG TAILED TITS were joined by another Treecreeper, two more Goldcrest, and a Nuthatch, plus the usual BLUE and GREAT TITS.

Out in the open, over at the Tree Nursery and Pub Field, I again saw the KESTREL, I wondered if it was showing some interest in the barn Owl box I put up in the fir tree there, as it keeps hanging around nearby - something to watch out for in the coming weeks. There was no sign of any winter thrushes on the Pub Field today, but whilst over at Migrant Alley a largish flock was seen just to the north of my patch, also of note was a CORMORANT that flew over and dropped down onto to the lakes, plus a trio of LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS that flew NE.

So, not much out of the ordinary to report today, but thats to be expected at this time of year, give it a couple of weeks and it will all be blooms, bee's and Butterflies :-)

5 comments:

Bob Bushell said...

That is quite a total, one day you'll be filming, one day!

ShySongbird said...

I completely agree with your first paragraph Warren.

No wonder you didn't see the Sprawk today I should think it is still full after yesterday's large meal!

Horrible weather here again, cold and wet :(

Keep your eye on that nestbox :)

Warren Baker said...

Hmmm....Funny you should say that Bob, I was thinking about getting some gadget to take video with

Warren Baker said...

Songbird - I hope the Sprawk gets indigestion :-)

Ken. said...

Hi Warren.
I have just caught up with yesterdays blog report and I agree with you to a limit, and we all interpret things differently, but I think towards the end you seemed to be enjoying what you was seeing.
Personally I have nothing against you showing photo's from start to end. In fact birds of prey miss a lot more than they catch.
Back to today, another quiet day for you, but as you say, it is only a matter of time before things start to change. Better luck tomorrow.