The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A pair of Sparrowhawks have bred in my garden for the first time. The garden is well above average-sized at three acres and was an arable field before being well-planted with mainly native trees 25 years ago. This record represents the 35th species to have bred here since I acquired the site in 1987.

Despite my being aware of the species regular presence this spring (mostly by the remains of kills), I did not see the nest until Monday, 16th July. In common with other raptors, it is remarkable just how secretive they become when breeding. The nest was quite difficult to see situated near the top of a Scots pine and the two young were already well-feathered and engaged in wing-flapping exercises when I saw them for the first time. They were both out of the nest and in the surrounding branches this morning, 21st July, and I assume that the reason that there are only two of them reflects the low number of juvenile bird prey items that have been available to the parent birds this year. From the kills plucked on a fence close to the nest, nearly all were juvenile birds and comprised chiefly of Starlings, Blackbirds, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches and Tree Sparrows. A more substantial juvenile Woodpigeon taken just before the young Sparrowhawks fledged was almost certainly killed by the adult female.

Although there is an abundance of bird-feeders near the house which are regularly exploited by Sparrowhawks at all other times of the year, this pair have apparently not raided this area, but seem to have regularly hunted across the the fields in more distant locations. Each time an adult returns to the nest, it is invariably greeted by an abundance of agitated Swallows that seemingly appear from nowhere.

Nice going Steve. What about your garden migrant list ? Presume you are fairly coastal ?
Phil

Yes Phil, the garden is near the coast, being situated about one mile from the Donna Nook dunes. There is not much habitat other than arable fields and the odd garden in between, so migrants occur fairly frequently. I dare not go down the garden without binoculars since all planning and planting has been wildlife orientated and consequently quite a few good species have appeared over the years. I'm not much of a lister normally, but have always logged everything in the garden avidly, as well as all the fly-overs and birds seen from the house or garden.

Currently, my garden list stands at 206, but understandably new additions are becoming few and far between nowadays. I have not seen anything new to the list during the past 15 months.