photo credit: https://www.goodenberghleisure.co.uk/sparrow-hawk-at-the-hide/
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I couldn’t have taken this photo, or one very like it, for all sorts of reasons. I’d just popped outside to do some qigong and soak up a bit of late-day sun. All was still in Bishops Castle: the light dreamy; the glow of old gold. There was of course the quarter-hour chime of the townhall clock, and then from across the street, the tones of convivial chatter between two neighbours’ were also finding their way into the garden.
And so to qigong. I was more than halfway through the shibashi set, performing ‘wave hands like clouds’, when the hawthorn tree over the hedge suffered a missile strike. Swift crash through vegetation. Something aerial shot down our path and landed on the rail by the garden steps. And there it stayed – only a few yards away, while I froze mid-cloud waving, right arm skywards, flamenco-style.
Posed thus, I of course thought of my camera. Silly. It was in the house, and I dared not move. So instead, I watched, while the sparrowhawk (a young male I think) sat on our fence, looking like it owned the place, from time to time turning its head as if to eavesdrop on the chatter across the road. It ignored me though, yet it surely must have spotted me with those sharp raptor eyes.
On the other hand, it was possibly busy gathering itself after a failed assault on some lucky bluetit. I watched for several minutes. Until it wheeled off over the hedge into town, the distinctive barred tail feathers, spread like a fan against the sun.
The Farrells’ new back garden. There’s an awful lot to sort out, but in the meantime, visiting sparrowhawks are a welcome addition. Some days we have red kites too, wafting high overhead.
You can find out more about sparrowhawks HERE.
It is a beautiful bird.
It was a very thrilling close encounter, Aletta.
What a marvelous encounter.
Now … what’s the rule? When in the garden have the camera to hand!
Yep. Forgot that rule, Ark. But I’m thinking even if I’d had the camera handy, super raptor would have fled if I’d moved.
What a grand visitor you have had. And your new yard looks to have a great future.
Thanks, Beverly. And yes the garden has much potential when we’ve got to grips with excess vegetation.
Beautiful 🤩
Thank you. Love that starry-eyed emoji.
Spellbinding. I forgot to wave my hands like clouds, I was so engrossed.
Now I picture us both in rapt pose, Jo. Happy weekend to you and Mick.
🤗🩵
Raptors are so regal and magnificent! Methinks it’s your lucky day!
It felt like a very lucky moment, Thom.
That’s exciting, Tish. I’m imagining you holding a flamenco pose and I’m smiling. I love raptors, so what fun, and I like your new backyard.
Thanks, Janet. And the backyard, small but very sunny, but an awful lot of prickly hedge to tame.
It gives you something to do. 😉
Ha!
Sparrowhawks used to be one of the most common raptors but are rare in many places now. Funny how, just when you REALLY need the camera, you and it are separated and if you move, the show ends. This is something I explain to people and somehow, they don’t really understand, probably because they haven’t tried taking photos of wild creatures who aren’t part of a zoo.
Congratulations on being there for the moment. I love those moments. A good few minutes like that can improve my whole week.
You’re right about those special moments. And sometimes it’s good to be detached from one’s camera when they happen. It means you get to really look and BE with whatever’s turned up.
I should mention that your yard has HUGE potential, especially if you can repair the hothouse! Then you can grow anything.
Yes the glasshouse is definitely on the ‘must repair’ list. We’re still trying to liberate what’s left of it from the hedge. It was completely covered in ivy when we moved in, which in turn had harboured enough humus on the roof to allow hawthorn and ash trees to take root. On the roof apex no less! T’will be a challenge to dislodge them.
A marvelous reminder that we’re still living in the natural ecosystem, despite all the change and damage we cause as a species. This must have been an encounter that made your heart and soul soar, Tish. A memory that’ll last forever thanks to you penning it down here for all of us to enjoy along with you.
Dries, thanks so much for that generously optimistic response. A man of many a close encounter, you know very well that every one counts – from smallest to largest. Whatever damage humans may have done, the planet is still teeming with every kind of wonder.
Wow!
What a fantastic close encounter, Tish….shame about no camera!
Just have to rely on the old memory banks (not always a reliable archive however) 😉
Too right about the memory banks not being entirely reliable….I remember talking to my mother about a shared event some years prior…wee had very different memories
It’s unnerving when that happens.
Quite so
thank you for showing us first sight of your back garden _ I look forward to see what evolves here.
P.S. I too was doing Shibashi last month when something whooshed past my legs then returned post haste to sit disconsolately on the garden trellis looking back at me but empty clawed! Sparrow hawks are evidently drawn to our qigong forms or more likely the bird feeders I have!
Goodness, Laura. Another shared element. Raptors and dragons – a feisty aerial theme here.
As to the garden, it’s been very neglected – to the extent we will need a contractor to sort out the hedges and clear shrub infested borders, and reclaim apple trees.
And then there’s the ground elder!
But there’s some good old soil and front and back are sunny spots, and there’s room for some veggie plots without the need to dig up all the lawn!
I like our synchronicity Tish – it cuts across the miles.
Sounds like a blank canvas post contractors – veggie plots too does that mean no allotment this time round?
Ground elder is bad news though I’ve recently read that its edible – here’s a link (which you can delete if you don’t like links in your comments)
edible ground elder
Also medicinal for gout, sciatica, rheumatism, haemorrhoids, inflammation, and water retention!
I’m not thinking about an allotment for now, although BC does have some (think they’re a bit a hike from the house). I’m hoping that more fertile, and sheltered ground won’t require the ‘acreage’ that the Wenlock allotment did, and often for quite poor yields. I also think I’d like to improve soil in my own garden rather than on someone else’s land,
And edible ground elder. A chum tried and tried to make soup that was finally edible out of the stuff, so she’s rather clouded my views on that front. But I’m heartened to know of its therapeutic uses. The out-of-control hedge has been its means of invasion so far.
What a gorgeous, noble and proud creature Tish you stepped into his world briefly to capture him, how amazing.
I like that, Athena – that I stepped into his world 🙂
I’m glad you like it 💓 😊 yes it’s really special