ON THE WILD SIDE

THE sparrowhawk is the second most common raptor in the UK after the kestrel. They have bright golden or orange eyes and are a terrifying sight – if you happen to have feathers.

Sparrowhawks are the only British raptor to eat exclusively birds, although I have seen one attack a bat.

They hunt anything with feathers that is smaller than they are, using their powerful clawed feet to kill and their comparatively small hooked beak to pluck out the feathers before eating. They have been recorded eating more than 100 bird species. Sparrowhawks live all over Eurasia but have a unique distinction in the United Kingdom: the further north you travel, the bigger they get.

Females are anywhere from 25-40% larger than males – the largest sexual size difference of any bird in the UK, and one of the largest in the world.

Males can only catch birds the size of a thrush, but females will eat pigeons or larger. That leads them into conflict with humans.

In the 1800s sparrowhawks were called “the true enemy of the gamekeeper” and have been poisoned and persecuted.

So much so that in the 1950s they were almost extinct in the east of England. Some of that was due to pesticides, but they are almost universally hated by pigeon fanciers.

However, less than 1% of racing pigeons are lost to sparrowhawks.

Many people use their strict bird diet to blame them for the fall in songbird numbers, but research has shown that is false.

In fact, fewer songbirds means sparrowhawks decline.

Cuckoos have evolved to mimic sparrowhawks so they can scare songbirds away from their nests to lay eggs in them undisturbed. The oldest wild sparrowhawk was over 20 when he died, but the average age is about four. Only one in three become adults.

In captivity they can live a little longer and have been a popular falconry bird for centuries. They were called “muskets” and known for their difficulty to train, as well as for being the go-to birds for priests and noblewomen because of their size.