Driving home weary, hungry, dehydrated and in pain with a dodgy back after sitting by the riverbank taking great photos of a smashing pair of breeding Dippers…… I was already more than content. I was dreaming of lunch and coffee and I was mildly interested when, my car disturbed a Carrion Crow feeding on a “flat” pheasant road kill.  I remember saying to myself, “Shame that’s not a raptor”., so when I went around the next corner and I saw something dead on the road again……… and this time, no it couldn’t be…… was that a Sparrowhawk perched on a kill?  I turned the car around at the next opportunity and as I approached the spot again from the other direction, yes…….. it was!  I quickly pulled in to the side of this busy country road and looked at the now forlorn carcass, headless but a fat and appealing Wood Pigeon. I opened my Hatchback, grabbed my camera and sat looking out the back with my Pentax armed and at the ready, and wow, there it was flying in again.  Photos were hurriedly taken and when the inevitable car came, off she flew, a female Sparrowhawk. With 50 shots already in the camera, I backed the car up 20 foot nearer and clambered back in to the back, not easy when your a stiff and “knackered” 60 year old!  It didn’t take long aand  she was back again. She flew in, and after a statuesque and imperious pose, she started tucking in, plucking her prize with quick rips of her beak before emerging with blood and flesh.I was in heaven (I’m already in Devon, God’s next best thing).  This time when cars came, she didn’t budge, they slowed to go around her and when a lorry got too close, tried to carry it off, but no, it was too heavy for her.

Seeing how she was so focused on her meal I backed up even more and now I was only 15 feet from the Pigeon, surely she wouldn’t come back again? I was wrong because there she was again, and now she filled the entire view finder, she was almost too close. I got some glorious close up photos of the birds head.

After a while a lorry came around the corner and off she flew, just in time and the unfortunate Pigeon was flattened, not a pretty sight. It didn’t put her off though and she still came back to finish.

This time when a big lorry came, she tried to take it away and it broke up and off she went with a sizeable piece of pigeon. She took it off to a more safe perch to finish, and that was the last I saw of her. A memorable 40 minutes had gone by!
A little bit about Sparrowhawks. In common with other birds of prey, female Sparrowhawks are larger than the more colourful male which is almost “slate-blue” on the back. It’s not unusual for both sexes to have a white patch on the nape, especially young birds. interestingly, young Cuckoos also have this white patch which is thought to deter Sparrowhawks from predating them because they mistake the young cuckoos as young Sparrowhawks. Now, how did that evolve?????