Heysham

[Nick Godden]

#6525

Dog walk path to Red Nab 17:00-18:15

Chiffchaff 2
Goldcrest 4
Pied wagtail 164 came into a pre-roost gathering on Red Nab before flying towards the ferry terminal to roost

Swift sp – one appeared over the dog path about 18.05 circling quite slowly over us at treetop height a couple of times. But within about 30 seconds a sparrowhawk came through and caught it (very easily) almost overhead. It flew with it east towards Moneyclose Lane but we didn’t see it again. Obviously given the poor light we couldn’t see any useful ID features.

[eddybayton]

#6527

Great post. The longer I’ve watched sparrowhawks in Freehold, nearly 30 years, the more convinced I am they have two hunting strategies. One is a daytime dive bomber from height, over 1000 feet up with a stoop and the other is a low level tour in low light or crepuscular conditions. The sparrowhawk is easily the latest hawk or falcon hunting in my experience around us. Sometimes in near dark. Unfortunate swift. with the other record at Leighton and the weather, do we put these as pallid swift or just swift spp which seems safer…

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