Greenwich Wildlife (7)
"You lookin' at my bird?"Remember Dazza's baby Kestrel? Well, he's back - and this time it's serious.
Our fluffy little teenager's got past his acne and being-rubbish-with-girls phase and has now taken to being a classic Alpha Male of South East London.
Dazza says "two days last week he turned up to eat his dinner at about 6pm in our little back garden. He was totally unfazed by the flashing of cameras and even seemed to pose with his latest catch" (see unidentified furry object under left claw...)
Can you imagine what Animal Magic would be like these days if dear old Johnny Morris was still going? What do you think this guy would be saying? Answers on a postcard...
Labels: Green Greenwich
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:22
6 Comments:
Hmmm. It seems a remarkable transformation has occurred! Your pre-pubescent Kestrel has turned into a Sparrowhawk
But that's great, because they're much more exciting to see :)
It may not be a kestrel but it's definitely a fella - you can tell by the orange cheeks.
Great to see them around a bit more these days. Sadly not down to there being more sparrows for them to eat though :-( That's a bird you see fewer and fewer of in London now. Thankfully we've still got a few of the cheeky chappies in our east Greenwich garden to cheer me up in the morning while I eat my cocopops :-)
Thanks for the correction as to the species......I feel even more privileged now I know we have a sparrowhawk using our tiny garden, mind you he seems to prefer mice to birds.
Also the local cats seem to be a bit wary of him, which isn't a bad thing.
Maybe I should drop a line to BBC Wildlife in Bristol and see if they fancy sending a camera crew up for a couple of days.....Chris Packham and Kate Humble will be jealous
The Tate Modern have had a pair of Sparrowhawks nesting on one of the chimney ledges for several years. They apparently survive on pigeons. Pigeonhawk doesn't sound the same really, does it? i'd rather have one of those in my garden than them annoying Parakeets!
There was a very fine kestrel, or possibly sparrowhawk, living in East Greenwich around the Pelton Rd. / Blackwall Lane area 2-3 years ago. Walking along Whitworth Street one day I heard a loud flurry of wings immediately behind me, and a feathery bundle whooshed past my head and landed on the pavement. It was the raptor, with a starling in its claws. The starling was on its back, still alive, while the raptor tried to tear its breast open. I watched it for quite some time - several minutes - until something disturbed the bird, at which point it flew off with the starling still in its clutches and settled on one of the nearby rooftops to finish its lunch.
Isn't it a pair of peregrines that nest on the roof of Tate Modern?
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