Sparrowhawk and Sparrow
I had just returned from a photographically fruitless walk around a local reservoir when I saw this Sparrowhawk swoop into my garden and grab a male House Sparrow. The sparrow is still alive at this point which makes for a dramatic, but macabre image. I took this through the double glazed windows, but it is virtually straight off the camera. There is a wonderful story about the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley), who became Prime Minister after his military career, and who was visiting Crystal Palace, which was nearly completed for the Great Exhibition of 1851. He was with Queen Victoria, who was concerned about Sparrows nesting in the roof of the great building. She asked Wellington his advice on how to get rid of the Sparrows. His answer was decisive and succinct; "Sparrow-hawks Ma'am".
The scientific name of Sparrowhawk is Accipiter nisus and is quite an interesting mix of the pragmatic and the poetic. Accipiter means grasper (although the original meaning of the verb accipitere meant to grasp mentally rather than physically. So understand rather than seize.). Nisus was a Greek King who was turned into a hawk after his city was betrayed by his own daughter. His daughter Scylla was turned into a lark, condemned forever to fly in fear from her own father. The English name Sparrowhawk goes back through Middle English (Sperhauk) even to Old English (Spearhafoc), pre 1066.
Incidentally this is a first year male just starting to moult into adult plumage. You can see a pale blue feather in the middle of his back. He would have hatched as a chick last summer but in a year he certainly seemed to have mastered his necessary hunting skills.
Sparrowhawk and Sparrow
I had just returned from a photographically fruitless walk around a local reservoir when I saw this Sparrowhawk swoop into my garden and grab a male House Sparrow. The sparrow is still alive at this point which makes for a dramatic, but macabre image. I took this through the double glazed windows, but it is virtually straight off the camera. There is a wonderful story about the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley), who became Prime Minister after his military career, and who was visiting Crystal Palace, which was nearly completed for the Great Exhibition of 1851. He was with Queen Victoria, who was concerned about Sparrows nesting in the roof of the great building. She asked Wellington his advice on how to get rid of the Sparrows. His answer was decisive and succinct; "Sparrow-hawks Ma'am".
The scientific name of Sparrowhawk is Accipiter nisus and is quite an interesting mix of the pragmatic and the poetic. Accipiter means grasper (although the original meaning of the verb accipitere meant to grasp mentally rather than physically. So understand rather than seize.). Nisus was a Greek King who was turned into a hawk after his city was betrayed by his own daughter. His daughter Scylla was turned into a lark, condemned forever to fly in fear from her own father. The English name Sparrowhawk goes back through Middle English (Sperhauk) even to Old English (Spearhafoc), pre 1066.
Incidentally this is a first year male just starting to moult into adult plumage. You can see a pale blue feather in the middle of his back. He would have hatched as a chick last summer but in a year he certainly seemed to have mastered his necessary hunting skills.