As our resident photographer, and very good I must say, I mentioned in my last blog about birds not standing still.
So there I am in the garden an hour ago and what flies past, very low about roof level, but a sparrow hawk after a pigeon. Fantastic photo shot you may think, and I agree, but I am ion the garden and the damn camera is upstairs in the bedroom. BUGGER IT.
That’s the first time I have seen a sparrow hawk so close to the house, we get them and hobby hawks in the woods down the bottom of our road, but never in our garden.
So Val how do I get round that?
Boadicea's Chariot 
Core blimey Rick, I’m no Johnny Kingdom you know 🙂
Firstly, the only way of successfully shooting that sparrow hawk in pursuit of its dinner, was to have your camera round your neck at the ready, yeah, some hopes. The shot you describe is one we all crave for, getting it is another matter. But, the one thing I have learned from Johnny Kingdom. is watching. By the way, if you’ve never seen Johnny Kingdom, he of Exmoor fame, then look him up, he’s a fantastic wildlife photographer.
I would love to have been in your garden today. You have a head start Rick, the sparrow hawks are on your door step, so you have to go to the woods down the road, and watch for them. If you know for definite they are there, get yourself settled and wait, you’ll soon spot one. I imagine the babies have flown the nest by now, which might have helped spotting them.
There is another attempt you could make, put a dead bird on your shed roof, or similar, and sit with your camera poised. I know someone who does this, but the hard bit is killing a bird in the first place, I couldn’t do it myself, and if you mentioned it to Johnny Kingdom, he’d go berserk. The other point is, I think hawks like live prey, and the best shot is the hawks approach, they look fabulous as they attack live prey, cruel I know, but that’s nature.
Get down to the woods, take a few sandwiches, you could be there sometime, but if you came back with a smug look on your face, it would be worth it.
I’ve only ever seen a sparrow hawk close up and in for the kill, and that was near to my door step about 10 years ago, the screeching from the blackbird in its clutches, was really distressing to watch, and over within a few seconds, so you have to be bloody quick with a camera. I wasn’t.
Ah well Val we can all but hope to be there. but we have to be lucky
Down in the woods there are sparrow and hobby hawks, but seeing them is another thing. This is the first time I have seen one so close to the house.
If you didn’t know June the 15th is a lunar eclipse, so if it is a clear night I shall be down on the cliff top at Folkestone to get a shot over the sea. But it depends upon transport at the moment. The wife decided on Thursday to drive the car into a wall so it is booked in for repair, so I have to rely on daughter to get me to the coast.
Interesting month, June, as the 15th is also full moon. As regards the eclipse, the sequence will be (all times in GMT) :-
Moon enters penumbra…..16.23
Moon enters into shadow..17.23
Total eclipse commences..18.22
Middle of eclipse……..19.13
Total eclipse ends…….20.03
Moon leaves shadow…….21.03
Moon leaves penumbra…..22.02
In the midst of all this, the full moon is actually at 19.14 GMT
I don’t know how I know – just trust me on this. Piccies would be nice.
OZ