Thursday 25 August 2011

Carole And Her Sparrowhawks.

Since the middle of last week Carole has regaled me with stories of the Sparrowhawks that have been terrorising her beloved garden.  She has now watched them take 2 Sparrows and at least 1 Pigeon although I did find remnants of another one 2 nights ago but slipped it into the bin without telling her.  She has been merrily snapping away through windows and each night this week as I return from work she has handed me a camera and said "theres quite a few pics on there".   Well there has been but unfortunately not the best quality in the world but then again neither are mine.  Well heres a few she has taken in the last few days.





I am sure that there are at least 3 different ones using the garden as a Take Away and all of these pics were taken at different times and according to Carole none of the forays were successful.  She says they just wait for me to go to work then come in and out then dissappear just before I get home although the last pic is the only Sparrowhawk I have seen in the garden in the last 2 months and that actually appeared as I was walking up the stairs to change as soon as I returned from work when Carole shouted from the Kitchen "theres another Sparrowhawk here"  I grabbed my camera and got off 3 shots from upstairs as she walked around in the garden.  When I arrived home from work today she once again handed me a camera and said that it had let her down as it had run out of electricity or space or something and she had to resort to getting another camera out of the bag.  I said that it might have something to do with the amount of pictures she took as the word FULL was flashing.  For  the umpteenth time she explained to me in firm tones that she just points and presses the button and its my job to see what she has managed to get.  She had taken 277 pics all of a Sparrowhawks.  The first couple were of a one very early morning then the rest were of a successful attack which commenced when she was refilling the feeders.  She said she was just cleaning out a water bowl when there was a loud thump and a couple of screams.  She turned around and there was a Sparrowhawk with a Pigeon not 6ft away.  She headed into the house and went upstairs to get a camera and started taking pics out of the window then when "the electricity" ran out she grabbed the "little" camera and went downstairs and took a few pics from behind the shed.  As usual the standard was not brilliant but she explained it away saying she was nearly crying for the poor pigeon.  The Sparrowhawk eventually departed after our 2 OAP cats (they are 18 and 19) wandered in.  Carole then had to cover the pigeon with a big plant pot to stop the cats getting at it and when I arrived home I was ordered to dispose of it.  Well heres a couple more pics of hers from today.





God, I hope they dont come tomorrow, 4 nights in a row now going through pics with her but she makes a cracking dinner.

She said "Why do they keep coming to our garden", "No idea" says I






3 comments:

Johnnykinson said...

I know why they come to your garden John. Sparrows make a cracking dinner........bit like your missus!

Anyway.......the pics are as good as yours !!!!!
Brill. posting.

Anonymous said...

John,

will pass on your comment on the pics to Carole and when she says who is John I will describe you down to a T including the White Stick.

John

Johnnykinson said...

LOL