Sunday 30 November 2014

Sparrow Hawks - Two Predetors on the Telephone Cable



Because it was one of those clear, blue, sky winter days, I fancied there might be two Sparrow Hawks along the country road leading to the town of Whittlesey. Every time a dust cart goes along this road, we always see sparrow hawks, buzzards and kestrels. I've tried to click them on my mobile phone camera but they are always too far away. 


This Sunday morning, (30/11/2014) I took my German Shepard dog for a walk along the river Nene and had taken my camera just in case. There was nothing going, so when I returned with the dog, I let her out into the side yard and told my wife I was going to drive along the long country road to Whittlesey and see if the Sparrow Hawks were out. I closed the long five bar gate with Sasha barking for me to take her again. I could not because I would be along a country road with farm land. I could not let her run over the farmer's fields, so she remained. 

It was a fine day for any bird of prey to hunt and I had noticed,  on numerous occasions, two sparrow hawks watching over a freshly dredged dyke. A couple of weeks previously, I saw huge JCB scooping the reeds out of the long ditch and clearing the vegetation, leaving it to rot along the bank. This is done every year to keep the dykes clear for flood water to flow.  

If the ground is disturbed it means various worms and what not come to the surface which would encourage sparrows, voles and mice to go on the hunt. In turn, I think this has attracted the attention of the two Sparrow Hawks we kept seeing in the particular location. They were hunting the hunters - the sparrows, moles, voles and mice.

As I cruised along with my eyes peeled, I was relieved to know there was no other traffic on the road as I got closer to the dredged dyke. For miles in all directions, there was nothing but ploughed farmland. It was like I was the only person in the fen. Then I spotted the two sparrow hawks sitting upon the telephone cable that ran along the country road. I slowed to a stop and started clicking with my camera. They saw me and began to fly further away along the telephone cable while I kept jumping back in the car to pursue and take more photo shots. Most were blurred because I was rushing and shaking with excitement, but some came out and I have chosen a few to blog. I hope any reader will enjoy.







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