Of Hen Harrier & Merlin. (1 Viewer)

[Ptarmi]

Within the last ten days I've been lucky enough to see hunting Hen Harrier twice & a Merlin this morning, right here on my patch.

Plus, I watched a Merlin soaring to almost out of sight, above a moor, earlier in the week, not too far from here.

Is anyone else here lucky enough to have these fascinating birds as neighbours?

Buzzards are an everyday neighbour for me & I see Sparrowhawks most weeks. In fact, I suspect one nabbed a Sparrow just the other day, through the bars of the cage that surrounds my peanut feeder! All I was left with were a bunch of bloody feathers!

Sadly, the Kestrel is a vary rare bird in this area, indeed I see Peregrine far more often.

Cheers
Dick

 

[s. james]

See the odd hen harrier and merlin at Reedy Flat (Lough Neagh, south shore) in winter. Both are also occasional at Portmore RSPB, but I've only ever seen hen harrier there.

I've seen quite a few hen harriers but funny enough they have always been females, I've yet to spy a male.

Anecdotally I'd say kestrels have declined a lot round Lurgan in recent years. Buzzards are everywhere. Sparrowhawks are common enough but difficult to track down unless you've a lot of small birds in the garden. Peregrines apparently used to nest in a few quarries not too far from here but the pigeon-men have seen to them, so only get the odd one in winter now.

Toss-up between sparrowhawk and peregrine for my favourite raptor.

 

[Ptarmi]

but the pigeon-men have seen to them ..

Hey, it's about time someone saw to the pigeon men then! :C :storm:

Sadly, most so called "pigeon men" aren't really bird lovers at all!
They disguise themselves as such, but we all know they're nothing more than gamblers & armchair sportsmen! :-C

Yes, I have seen male Hen Harriers up here.

Is the Kestrel in decline throughout the UK & Ireland I wonder. That's very worrying, if true.
A little strange then, that the Buzzard seems to be on the increase.

As for my favourite bird of prey, I actually dabbled in Falconry many years ago & got to know a few individual birds very well & the Kestrel would have been one of my favourites ... I found them to be both lively, cheeky & also charming little characters.

On the same day I watched Osprey & Kestrel chicks being ringed & while the Osprey chicks just behaved like fat lazy chickens the Kestrel chicks fought back noisily, like little tom cats.

I look forward to the day the Goshawk is widespread throughout the UK & Ireland ..... perhaps we could train a few of them to catch Pigeon men!