SIGHT TO BEHOLD

The piece in the autumn issue about birding by narrowboat certainly struck a chord with me. In late July, we were returning from a trip to Bristol on our narrowboat and moored one evening in an isolated spot on the southern Oxford canal. While I was setting up the barbecue, I became aware of a lot of calling nearby and, stopping to look, realised that there were Kestrels flying low over the field next to our mooring. A few minutes of watching revealed that there was a nest in a tree no more than 200 metres away and an adult was bringing in food for five fairly advanced juveniles. This was fascinating as all five juveniles could fly but wouldn’t venture more than 50 metres from the tree. We saw some feeding taking place on the ground, but ultimately, they always returned to the tree and mobbed the adult as it returned with food. This fabulous spectacle went on all evening until it started to get dark and we saw the birds again in the morning before we set off. I took some photos but unfortunately I never caught all five juveniles in one shot. Andy Todd