Sparrowhawk kill!
Jill shouted up to me in the attic "...are you filming the nasty bird on the lawn?"
Nasty bird? nope.
Action stations, grab nearest camera, run to window, start filming. Got it!

A male sparrowhawk had killed one of the collared doves next to the bird bath. I had recently cleaned and filled the bird bath and the collared doves love to use it. So, I guess it was my fault that it made an easy target for the hawk. A male sparrowhawk is considerably smaller than a female and thus it hadnt managed to kill the dove outright on impact. Not enough power.

Here are some stills for now until I upload the video to "youtube".

As usual click to enlarge, the first 2 are video grabs and the second 2 are from the camera.
































































Here's the video
Sorry bout the shakiness, there was no time for a tripod. The resolution aint the BBCs High Def, but then, they havent got a turnaround like mine - camera to internet in minutes.
If you have sound, the soundtrack is a soothing guitar piece by "Jose Gonzalez" for all those feeling sad for the dove.




The video is quite harrowing for the more emotional bird-lover, as it takes about 7 mins for the dove to stop struggling as it is plucked alive.
This is pure nature and I dont like to think of this as cruel or nasty. This is how it must be and it is a priviledge to witness nature like this.