More birds

I'm aware that I might be seen as the man who dreams birds of prey, but tonight Linda and I saw what could only have been a Merlin flying low along the Foulsham to Themelthorpe road in front of the car when we were on the way back from casting our votes at about 7.30. It was a female, brown with a strong barred pattern, dark bar to the end of its tail, a bit bigger than a thrush but much smaller than either a Sparrowhawk or a Kestrel. It was flying at between two and eight feet above the ground and we followed it for about 200 yards until it flew up to a perch on a roadside tree. We both got a very clear view and both pored over the bird books to confirm the sighting when we arrived home.

Earlier this year I'm convinced I saw a Goshawk on the old railway track near here (it had brought down an adult Jay, and was half as big again as a Sparrowhawk) but I'm starting to worry that I might be fantasising these birds! (Though not tonight, because Linda saw it too.)

I suppose the problem is that when I first started watching birds in North Herts in the late 1950s you just didn't see birds of prey - the odd Kestrel or Sparrowhawk was a rare sighting. I only ever saw one owl - a Barn Owl - in literally years of watching (I recorded everything I saw from 1958 to 1963). This scarcity was partly due to where I was in the country I'm sure, and partly due to the effects of pesticides on raptor populations (which was only then becoming understood). Now they have undoubtedly returned, and we are seeing them much more often. Witness the Guist Honey Buzzards and the Marsh Harriers in the Broads (I've seen six at one time circling high over Deep-go Marsh near Ranworth - Paul, you've seen them there from the boat too).

Anyway, I'll try to be quicker with the camera next time.