Harvest time is upon us as is this years crop of Sparrowhawks

I spent a very pleasant hour watching three fledgling Sparrowhawks and the parent birds on the Aldwincle side of the reserve late afternoon yesterday. 

Contact calling frequently from a small coppice between the village church and the reserve boundary they could be seen taking to the air to greet their returning parents and I was able to witness a number of food passes.

                     

From time to time the fledgelings would disperse to nearby perching trees but never for too long before resuming their presence at the main roost.

A most enjoyable experience.

           

Overhead Glider .........

Unusually for a Sparrowhawk, this bird was flying in a very leisurely manner with a couple of wing beats followed by longish glides, this allowed me to pick it out at quite a distance and hope that there was no change of direction.

I was tucked up into the edge of woodland wearing a dark green fleece, I'm not kidding myself into thinking that it did not see me so I suspect that my silhouette was sufficiently broken up not to represent a threat to this most secretive and suspicious of raptors. 

I have mentioned before that I wear a pair of green gloves when photographing birds, I am convinced  that they obscure the movement of my hands when raising the camera for the shot.

A pleasing image. Of late I seem to have been having more than my fair share of opportunities to photograph birds of prey !.

Getting there, better light ..... still plenty of room for improvement.

I went down to my reserve early evening yesterday for about half an hour to see if I could make contact with the Sparrowhawk family, parents and three chicks that fledged about ten days ago.

Two fledglings were contact calling high up in the canopy and I was able to get this shot of the male parent, but quite distant.

It would make by day if I could get some shots of a food pass, maybe ......... but probably maybe not !

The trials and tribulations of bird photography .......

As you know I have three fledgeling Sparrow Hawks on my patch, for the first seven days they stayed in the main wood where their parents nested, but now they are beginning to spread their wings and are perching in a variety of trees in the vicinity.

Today one of them came around the corner of the '' home wood '' and nearly flew into me flaring its wings, changing direction and altitude, I would say it passed no further than ten feet away, good for the memory but not a photo opportunity.

I started this blog to feature my amateur work and the diversity of my local patch, some times you can nearly get  it right and sometimes circumstances conspire to thwart your plans, the images today come into that category.

The relationship of the sun to the access that I have to the wood is not good,  there is nowhere that I can  place myself with the sun behind me, as all photographers know the end result of shooting into the region of the light source is '' blacked out '' images which I have in spades !

I could actually get closer but it would be too close and potentially stress the birds, respect is important and the images would be no better.  

The focus of the images is good, shutter speed superb .... but the results are hardly worth publishing.

Maybe now that the birds are beginning to disperse opportunities will improve, I would love to get  a '' food pass '' shot.

Such is life !

Sparrowhawk fledglings at Titchmarsh LNR.

As you will have gathered Titchmarsh LNR in East Northamptonshire is my local patch and one that I visit on a regular basis.

Last Monday I was walking down to the reserve when I heard a call that I did not recognise, very strange, a sort of mid-range single note call ( hope that makes sense ) that I had never heard before.

I got to the entrance gate turned left and flushed three birds from the trees on the left hand side of the track, they were clearly just fledged raptors and I suspected Sparrow hawks, they  flew over the path into the trees on the right hand side, not good flyers yet or perchers with plenty of wing flapping to balance and settle down but sadly too quick and distant for any shots.

They were contact calling each other on a regular basis.

I also saw a parent bird circling high overhead.

So, I visited Xeno-Canto and located the call I was hearing.

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Accipiter-nisus  ( block in, right click and look for reference XC95574 ).

Indeed just fledged Sparrow Hawks !. Birding is as much about your ears as your eyes if not more so.

Today I observed from a distance and just manage to get a record shot of, I am sure, one of the juveniles. Not great and at distance but you have to start somewhere.

I understand the adults will continue to feed the juveniles for another 20-25 days as they hone their flying and hunting skills, toward the end of this period food made available to the fledglings is gradually reduced encouraging independence.

A great process to witness and become involved in, from a distance..