Comins Coch, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: The drift of pale feathers drew my eye, evidence of the rural food chain in actionI found the remains of the blackbird on the strip of rough grass between the hedge and a group of small holly trees. The drift of pale feathers drew my eye first, left in a generous arc where they had fallen after being plucked from the body. Apart from the tail, legs and sternum, little remained of the bird itself, a small adult female, possibly one of those raised in the same hedge last summer. It seemed to have been eaten from the top down, perhaps the same direction from which it had been attacked, and I ran over in my mind the list of possible assailants.In this quiet wooded corner my suspicions soon fell on our local sparrowhawk. Only an occasional, solitary visitor to the garden, this hawk has shown an especially messy interest in the growing number of collared doves that frequent the beech trees along the lane. They are almost the perfect prey - large, slow-moving and seemingly not very observant - and I have seen them fall victim to the hawk on at least two occasions. Continue reading...
Country diary: who killed our blackbird? The sparrowhawk has form in this area
27. dubna 2020 6:45
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Zdroj: The Guardian