It’s good to see sparrowhawks regularly visiting the Pits this winter. They are one of our more common birds of prey, but not everyone will have seen one. Their population has recovered greatly since the 1960s and 70s when they were a particular victim of agricultural pesticides and habitat loss.
Although they prey on many of our smaller birds, in general we think it is a good sign that they visit our site. It means that our establishing woodland and local bird population is now supporting a whole food chain. Winter sparrowhawks may have arrived from further north – as far away as Scandinavia.
Male birds are slate grey and noticeably smaller than the browner female birds.