Hi, lovely cool morning and as the sun rose so did the temperature so off with gloves and hat. When I got to north end of the long pond a sparrow hawk flew low and fast over the pond and settled on top of a two foot high willow bush some 100 yards away. I was watching it through binoculars when a stoat some three yards away from the bush popped its head up and quickly bobbed down, the sparrow hawk I think was unaware of it. The hawk then flew off and settled on one of the posts of a nearby fence.
I checked pond 35 for new natterjack spawn and then headed down through the fields to the feeders. Again I saw the sparrow hawk and then a shorteared owl came into view and I watched it hunting over the heather moor for five minutes or more. I thought that was the last of the hawk but again it came into sight as I disturbed it as it was sitting on a fence post in the first field. Two birds of prey in ten minutes !!
Posted by Bob