Keep watch for sparrowhawks
These keen-eyed little predators sometimes swoop into gardens. Adrian Thomas explains what they’re looking for
These sharp-eyed predators sometimes visit gardens – here’s what they’re looking for...
When I dug a large pond in my garden, I was hoping to create an attractive birdbath for blackbirds and song thrushes. Little did I expect it to become a daily bathing spot for sparrowhawks. Although they only ever visit alone, I know up to six have used the pond, because each individual has slightly different markings. Only 40 years ago, to have even one visit would have been exceptional. Birds of prey faced a catalogue of horrors and calamities for more than 100 years to the point where they’d almost been wiped out. First there had been persecution, with Victorian gamekeepers blasting them out of the sky, such that several species including the osprey became extinct in Britain. Persecution continued into the 20th century for those species that remained, such as the peregrine, kestrel, red kite, sparrowhawk and buzzard. But then came a double whammy when a new ‘wonder pesticide’ was introduced to farming. It was called DDT, and it had an unforeseen side-effect of accumulating in the bloodstream of birds of prey, causing their eggshells to thin. Few young birds of prey managed to hatch, and their populations crashed once more. It has taken concerted conservation effort and strict wildlife protection laws to help them recover, and for some species there’s still a long way to go. However, it does mean that, in many parts of the country, you now have the chance of seeing these elegant birds once again, not only over woods and hills but also in the skies above – and sometimes in – our gardens.
Not that any of them are exactly numerous. Our commonest bird of prey is now the buzzard, with perhaps 80,000 pairs in the whole of the country; compare that with the five million pairs of wood pigeon or blackbird. The most frequent bird of prey in gardens is the one that splashes wildly in my pond – the sparrowhawk. There are only thought to be about 30,000 pairs, and their numbers are declining a little, but gardens suit them rather well. This is a bird that catches smaller birds in daring low-level attacks, nipping at speed along hedges and fence lines and darting over at the last moment for a surprise ambush. Not only does garden terrain suit their hunting style, but also in many gardens there are better populations of small birds than in the wider countryside. Nevertheless, seeing a sparrowhawk is still rare in most gardens. They live at very low densities, with one pair needing a huge territory to call their own, and they remain very nervous of people; not surprising after so long looking down the barrel of a gun. Another bird of prey that has become a garden visitor once again is the red kite. Pushed to near extinction, it reached the point where just one breeding female survived in the UK, in the remote mountains of mid-Wales. What a change from Shakespeare’s time when it was a common sight over the streets of London, helping clean the streets of all the detritus that people left there. As part of a concerted effort to reintroduce it in the 1990s, birds were brought in from Sweden, Germany and Spain. In a few towns and villages close to the release sites, this is now a very familiar bird, drifting languidly over rooftops, and breeding so successfully that its prospects look very healthy indeed. So, are sparrowhawks and red kites responsible for population declines in smaller birds? Study after study has shown this is not the case. Some garden birds are doing very well; wood pigeons, great tits, blue tits, blackbirds and goldfinch populations (all prey for sparrowhawks) are holding up or actually increasing. So the reality is that sparrowhawk populations are determined by the number of small birds, not the other way around. In some cases, small bird populations are in decline because they themselves don’t have enough insects to feed their chicks. So although I have daily visits by sparrowhawks, I also have lots of small birds in my garden, and their numbers are increasing. Nevertheless, I always place my feeders so the small birds have cover to which they can retreat. What this doesn’t do is remove the distress that some people feel when they see a sparrowhawk catch a bird in front of their eyes. At these moments, we have to take a deep breath; nature is red in tooth and claw, whether it be the sparrowhawk taking the blackbird or the blackbird taking the worm, and our gardens are part of that natural cycle. Birds of prey can still get a mixed reception, but they’re a valuable and integral part of nature, and they look rather magnificent, too!
There are only thought to be about 30,000 sparrowhawk pairs, but gardens suit them well