Sadness: RIP Merlin

I should have had the courage of my convictions. The raptor in the last post was, indeed, a Merlin. After everyone had convinced me to look for a reason as to how I could have been so mistaken after being so sure, The Fates intervened. I wish they hadn't. On Saturday the Merlin made an attempt to take a sparrow from the birdtable, overshot, crashed and broke a wing. Although I called the SSPCA and gave her water from a dropper she soon went into shock and died. This morning the ornithologist and vet confirmed that she was a Merlin and that she was far too small to be a female Sparrowhawk even if the markings had not been sufficient identification.

I'd rather have been wrong and that she had lived.

A First: Merlin

It's not the first Merlin I've seen on the Island by any means but it's the first one I've seen sitting on a post in my garden. It was there for only a short time and, sod's law, I had a macro lens on the camera and the Big Lens was in the boot of the car. So I had to make do with a 200mm lens through a window at an oblique angle. I just managed a shot before it departed at speed. I say 'it' because it's either a female or a young male. The garden has been strangely devoid of sparrows this afternoon so I assume it's still lurking.

Post script to this post: Well I apologise for misleading everyone. I have seen many Sparrowhawks and photographed them too. What made me not even think of this one being a sparrowhawk was the fact that it was so small: about the same size as a blackbird. However I have now had a more analytical look at it and the determining factor is the wings. I should immediately have noticed. When one sees a sparrowhawk the short stocky wings are very noticeable when compared with the long sharp wings of the Merlin.

Post post script: As my next post will show. It was a Merlin after all. I should have had the courage of my convictions.

All Creatures Great and Small

I'm definitely having a few days of involvement with the feathered and furry creatures in the neighbourhood.

Yesterday started with two cats from the area having a really massive battle in the garden leaving it covered in fur. My attempts to separate them before I had to take one home to an owner in a black sack were not proving fruitful and were exposing my uncovered legs to potential excessive brutality (not that even a thick pair of jeans would have afforded much protection had they turned on me). My eventual solution was to turn the high pressure hose on them. Water is always a great favourite with cats!

Then, as I was idly watching the world, a rock dove kept circling the house sometimes very close. Suddenly I realised that it's 'companion' was not in fact another rock dove but a bird of prey with a significant white throat area. At one point it became difficult to know which was chasing which. There are Merlins in the area. Merlins are similar in size to pigeons but, so far as I can see, don't usually take them. However they do take their prey by flying with them (compared with Peregrine Falcons which tend to swoop down on their prey). So it looks very much as though this was a particularly enthusiastic Merlin.

Talking of rock doves they and the starlings are becoming a nuisance again. The Study roof is covered in their droppings and the starlings are driving the sparrows away from their feeders. As I write this there are 25 rock doves and countless starlings on the feeders and ground around them and one sparrow braving the starlings' beaks. Hmmm.

Now if anyone thinks that pigeons are bright let me disabuse them of that notion. I have a pond. It has a 'beach' area so that the birds can easily have a drink or bathe or whatever. This morning I was distracted from the computer by a splashing on the pond. A solitary collared dove was standing on the surround to the pond and trying to lean in (a drop of about 4 inches) to have a drink. He (or she) kept falling off the edge. After a while he realised this was not going to work so he tried to land on the water. Pigeons are not equipped for this task. He didn't know that. Time and again he tried and time and again he failed to manage to walk on the water. Eventually ie by the time I came to my senses and managed to power up the camera, he realised the error of his ways and flew off. I've not seen him since.

I wonder what other exciting things will happen today.