Sparrow Hawk Returns

[SlackAlice]

I was out in the garden earlier when it all went quiet and the birds all disappeared. Thinking cats (there are quite a few here), I looked around and was very pleased to see a Sparrow Hawk perched on my TV aerial sunning itself.
Hopefully this is he same one that was here last year and raised one chick. Why my TV aerial have not got a clue!

[guilliebrougues]

it must have felt safe there last time around so it has returned once again. please let us know if it raises any more chicks and if you see it often. you are very privilaged to have this happen. did you take any photos?

[Chaffinch]

Because he likes "sky tv" !!!! Thats great though Alice, I do hope you get chicks again.

[SlackAlice]

I did take some photo's but picture quality was poor (abominable really!), I'll have to get a better camera.

Last year the TV aerial appeared to be the staging post for training flights for the juvenile. At first the juvenile would drop off the aerial to pick up speed and zoom over my head towards the bird feeders and then land on my summerhouse, sitting there in a 'huff' because all the other birds had b#ggered off. I could feel the backdraft from his wings he was so low to my head.

Thinking back 2 yrs, I had a Sparrow Hawk take a sparrow in my garden at high speed, it was so close to me I could have reached out and touched them. What it did do is make me jump about 2 feet in shock because all I saw at first was a big explosion of feathers. May well be this hawk is one of the present pair.