Peregrine Falcon

Had this in the garden last year, chomping on a blackbird. Nee idea what it is
full

sparrowhawk.
 


Was hard to tell in the evening sun. Need some better binoculars really. The closest look I got, it seemed to be golden brown, white underwings with a black trim.

I'd be concerned it might be a buzzard, but buzzards don't hover the way this does.

You would be surprised how Buzzards can hover once they catch the thermals.
Check the end of the wings, if the feathers are displayed out like a fan this is typical of a Buzzard.
 
A pigeon was happilly scoffing insects off the grass outside our house the other day and a Sparrowhawk came from nowhere and killed it. It was scared off and flew off with the pigeon into someone elses garden and I could the lass gagging later on when she found the pigeon in bits all over her garden :lol:
 
Was hard to tell in the evening sun. Need some better binoculars really. The closest look I got, it seemed to be golden brown, white underwings with a black trim.

I'd be concerned it might be a buzzard, but buzzards don't hover the way this does.
Buzzards are known to hover, especially in strong winds. I've seen a couple lately around the Copt Hill and Warden Law doing it. That could be what you saw👍
 
A pigeon was happilly scoffing insects off the grass outside our house the other day and a Sparrowhawk came from nowhere and killed it. It was scared off and flew off with the pigeon into someone elses garden and I could the lass gagging later on when she found the pigeon in bits all over her garden :lol:
Got a canny couple of pics on me phone of a sparrowhawk scranning a pigeon in me dad's garden. Dinnar how to get pics off whatsapp and onto here though.

Buzzards are known to hover, especially in strong winds. I've seen a couple lately around the Copt Hill and Warden Law doing it. That could be what you saw👍
Hmm, well that's concerning.
 
What a wonderful sight.
Watched one today, it had taken a Wood Pigeon and was eating it at the top of an electricity pylon.
A noisy Kestrel perched close on one of the struts shrieking loudly as the feathers were falling through the sky.
Pity I never had binoculars to get a better view but watched it for 5 minutes as walking down the beautiful mid River Thames. The speed that these dive from the sky like a bullet, nature at its best.
Fantastic
 
First week of lockdown saw a falcon or buzzard devouring a small bird on my back fence and then today there were 2 hovering for 5 mins a few hundred metres up - great watching them unfortunately didn't get to see them for 'feeding time'
 
Buzzards are known to hover, especially in strong winds. I've seen a couple lately around the Copt Hill and Warden Law doing it. That could be what you saw👍
Crikey.
I didn't know that there was buzzards in the NE.
Seen them in Wales and thought I saw one in London once.
 
You would be surprised how Buzzards can hover once they catch the thermals.
Check the end of the wings, if the feathers are displayed out like a fan this is typical of a Buzzard.
This, I've seen buzzards hover like a kestrel in the past. It's not a common sight, you usually see them circle and soar, but have definitely seen it done by them before
 
Had the privilege of standing watching this beauty hover just a few feet from us, for about two minutes. Back of the quarry next to Whitburn golf club. Incredible to watch. Just tiny little adjustments of wing and tail, it looked like it had turned on an anti-gravity drive.

 
Definitely.


A kestrel will hover as it hunts. If not unlikely to be a Kestrel.
I got a good look at it around Saturday dinnertime. Got a full frontal (oo er :lol: ) as I saw it through the patio window as it came swooping towards our back fence before settling on some goal posts in the field out the back. Got the binoculars out - definitely a kestrel.

Saw the owl out the other night as well, also sat on the crossbar.
 
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I saw a sparrowhawk take a pigeon in our street. It came down in the road and started eating the catch alive, so I went and necked the poor bugger while the hawk sat above me on a lamp post screaming. When I'd done the deed, the hawk came down and took his dinner up onto a wall. There wasn't much left.
 

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