The curious incident of the Cat and the Sparrowhawk

I was reading a rather dull book in the conservatory yesterday afternoon, having recently returned from a quick visit to Marsh Lane where I'd seen 2 Little Ringed Plovers,2 Redshanks, 4 Oystercatchers and a Chiffchaff, when the peace was shattered with a loud screeching coming from quite close in the garden.

I dashed outside to see the local ginger tom (damn thing!!!!!) walking down one of the paths and as I moved forward to chase it off I nearly trod on a Sparrowhawk with it's kill.The Sparrowhawk shot off into the distance and the cat disappeared with the the kill.

I thought that was the end of the drama but,as I was cooking tea some 20 minutes later,I saw the Sparrowhawk had returned.I smoothly moved into panic mode and dashed upstairs to grab the camera and open the rear bedroom window (a small top hung window unfortunately) to hopefully get a decent view.

I was lucky because it had returned to claim it's kill not knowing the ginger tom had taken it.It searched from the fencing,then from a bird bath and finally from the top of a garden chair all pretty close to the house.It looked very puzzled when it couldn't find it and it eventually gave up and shot off into the distance.

The tea was ruined but it's nice to know you can have birding dramas even in a small suburban garden.Some shots attached which are OK considering it was pretty dull and I had to wind up the ISO.