A little flock of about a dozen chaffinches was feeding on the grass this morning. It scattered dramatically, accompanied by the alarm rattle of blackbird, as a male sparrowhawk swooped across the garden, landed briefly in the mountain ash and took off again in hot pursuit of a sparrow, into the honeysuckle thicket. After a few moments, the sparrowhawk emerged, empty clawed, and winged swiftly away. The garden was quiet for some time afterwards.The wind has turned to the west, bringing the Atlantic ocean in its light drizzle. The frost is gone. And the lovely Ice Follies daffodils are open.
7 comments:
I have a message for you on my blog.
/Katarina
You paint a lovely picture of life in the early spring garden....
...but here we are still windy when it is sunny, and cold when it is rainy...ah spring, where art thou, here in the Pacific Northwest???
So the sparrowhawk's back eh? Last year it stayed in our ash tree right next to the house waiting for a bird to come to the bird feeders. Wisely they all stayed away.
Ice Follies - 1 of my favourites. They're in the front and side garden down here :)
See you tomorrow...
Lovely to hear of more movements of birds in your garden, still getting those finches you lucky thing. I am sighting the sparrowhawk more this year, I am always relieved when I see it flying off without a catch, I know it has to kill to survive, but I would rather not be witness to it. Fancy your daffodils being in full bloom, they are beauties. x
Sigh ... just looking at your daffodils is making me long even more for spring. They are so cheerful.
Your garden is a busy place!
Your peaceful garden belies the drama that takes place as part of its history -- your lovely flowers come to life and the sparrowhawk is on the hunt.
Your lovely garden has a bit of drama often unseen. Reminds me of the strands of barbed wire I found strung close to the ground and out of sight (almost) in a public flower garden in Suisse -- I guess to keep out stray pets.
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