Sad News about this Sparrowhawk

Very sad news of this sparrowhawk, we were pruning our jasmine today and my partner, Malcolm, said there is a dead sparrowhawk by the cherry tree, sadly it appears this sparrowhawk may have not been very successful in catching enough birds, because when I picked her up, I felt her breastbone and there was no meat, I could feel the breastbone and her ribs.  Sadly this poor bird was probably getting weaker when I took this picture, it would explain why she did not fly off when she saw us taking pictures of her.   I know we don't like sparrowhawks visiting our gardens but I did feel very sad when I picked her up, it shows that life can be tough for these birds.

A New Visitor, Not Quite so Welcomed :-\

 We have been getting regular visits from a Sparrowhawk, I think it is a juvenile female.  Sunday evening, just before I went for my shift at the hospital, she was on the ground just outside our lounge window.  I got my camera and took a few through the window and then we opened the window carefully and managed to get a few shots through the open window.  She was aware of us looking at her and did not seem to care.  As you see from the close-ups, she has some of her supper on her beak still.

 

The Very Old

We went to Charmouth on Thursday, had a great day out.  We did a bit of fossil hunting on the beach and found this 200 million year old pyritised Echioceras ammonite on the beach (I am not being clever here, I got this information on the internet)  This find was a surprise because Charmouth beach is regularly combed by fossil hunters.