SPARROWHAWK: fierce mother keeps an eye on chicks

DASHING through woods in pursuit of its prey, the sparrowhawk is a relentless hunter of small birds such as blue-tits and chaffinches.

With shorter, more rounded wings than those of other raptors, it can pursue its quarry deeper into undergrowth to make a kill.

The sparrowhawk also has long legs and a long central toe on each claw to make it easier to hold a frantically struggling bird when captured.

Now our second most common bird of prey behind the kestrel, it declined drastically in the late '50s and early '60s because of the careless use of pesticides.

Tough regulations imposed on the use of pesticides have allowed sparrowhawk numbers to recover and the national population is currently estimated to be around 34,500 pairs.

Recently, I drove up North to visit a sick relative and set off at 5am to beat the traffic.

Within an hour I had spotted two sparrowhawks hunting beside the deserted motorway, which seemed to bear out their resurgence.

Kestrel numbers have been falling of late but still stand at just over 50,000 pairs so the sparrowhawk has some way to go yet before taking top spot. Nevertheless, it is interesting to compare these two similar-sized predators and the different ways they attack their prey.

Kestrels are falcons and use their pointed wings to hover in the sky above ground-based targets before stooping on them with lightning speed.

Voles and mice are the main victims but small birds, worms and insects are also taken.

Sparrowhawks, on the other hand, feed almost exclusively on birds which they chase and catch on the wing.

As a result, their growing population has been blamed for the disappearance of many of our songbirds.

But this is nonsense, according to the RSPB, which says that scientists have found no link between the loss of songbirds and the rising number of sparrowhawks.

Overall numbers of studied songbirds hardly changed in years when sparrowhawks were present compared to those years when they were not.

Meanwhile, findings by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology show an increase in the percentage of sparrowhawk deaths caused by starvation. This is thought to be due to traditional prey birds becoming scarce, owing to changes in agricultural practices.

As a teenager, I once climbed a tall tree and examined two sullen sparrowhawk fledglings at close quarters - not a wise thing to do, as mother sparrowhawks are the bigger of the two sexes and their talons are razor sharp.

Nothing untoward happened, though the mother did fly around the tree once or twice as I gingerly inspected her young.

No doubt, the outcome would have been more gruesome had I been a cheeky blue-tit.