We saw a kestrel actually catch a small mammal yesterday (29 Dec). The kestrel was hovering over rough grassland just a short way in front of us, and it moved away to a young tree some 10m away as we approached. We thought we had scared it off. But no, it suddenly returned very fast, swooping in flight low to the grassy patch it had been looking at before, and caught a small mammal: mouse, vole, shrew, or similar, we suppose; we could see its tail and an oval sort of shape in outline as it hung below the bird. The kestrel did not stop, it just caught the mammal as it flew by without even slowing down. It circled round and returned to the small tree. We were amazed at the acuity of its eyesight; we would not have stood a chance of seeing something so small in thick, long grass at such a distance. We felt ourselves to be very fortunate to see such a good and close view of this beautiful bird getting its dinner. Mary Smith
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The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more