by sales
15. April 2010 18:54
Whilst wild animals and birds frequent the grounds of Ansaback, from rabbits, magpies, robins, finches, (once upon a time we even had a cat with her litter of kittens) this was one guest we had never seen here before.
There were several suggestions as to what this bird may be, such as a Kestrel, a Goshawk and even a Peregrine Falcon. Having done some research we have concluded that with her piercing yellow eyes, light grey/brown colouring, it was in fact a female Sparrowhawk, which prey on small birds (although in this case it was a ‘not so small’ pigeon)!
Some years ago the Sparrowhawk was an extremely rare sight in Suffolk and Norfolk, the cause of their decline was found to be poisoning as a result of preying on grain-eating birds which had been feeding on seed covered in pesticides. The population has since recovered.
Take a look at the picture which was taken from the call centre, if you think we have got it wrong and this it is not a Sparrowhawk, please do let us know what you think this fierce looking bird is!
e-mail your suggestions to; toni.vincent@ansaback.co.uk
