A Murder at Roskhill

Only a few days ago I spotted a sparrowhawk lurking among our bird feeders. At the time, I thought that the bird was an inexperienced youngster, as to me, it seemed pretty unlikely that a juicy plump great tit would flutter towards the peanuts while Master S. Hawk was in the locality. Here's a picture I took at the time...

However - hunger no doubt drives a rapid learning curve in young sparrowhawks, and this morning, one of our local blackbirds ended up as breakfast....

Sue and I did not witness the dreadful deed itself, but we were able to watch the perpetrator pluck, dismember and devour the victim. And here is the evidence. Just the beak, and this pile of feathers remained. A sad end for one of the many local blackbirds, and a nice full tummy for the sparrowhawk!