Harassed Birds of Prey

The birds of prey in my area are not getting everything their own way at the moment. Recently I have seen a buzzard with sixteen crows mobbing it. As the crows are not currently nesting this was quite surprising behaviour. The buzzard did not appear to be carrying any catch and so the crows were unlikely to gain much from the attack. They were very persistent and I watched their pursuit for at least fifteen minutes.
The following day I saw a sparrow hawk travelling low to the ground at high speed, with a crow chasing close behind. The hawk was twisting and turning to evade the crow which showed remarkable ability to maintain its chase.

Autumn

I recently reported the first arrival of winter visitors (fieldfares), but today I saw butterflies and dragonflies in the garden. It is not what you expect in to see in the UK when it is almost November but following a cold start, the temperature rapidly rose and it turned into a beautiful sunny day with a magnificent sunset.

First winter visitors

A flock of nineteen fieldfares flew over the allotment this morning. These are the first winter migrants I have seen and follow only a few days after I saw a small party of swallows.

Late Swallows

A small party of six swallows flew over the house today. They were flying fast and in a direct line, clearly on migration. I presume they were birds that had seen a late brood reach independence prior to setting out. The weather is quite cold and there are few insects flying and so there would be little food or comfort for them. I saw some two weeks ago on the coast in Sussex and assumed them to be the last I would see this year.

Returning Skylarks

The skylarks, having completed their breeding cycle suddenly disappeared from the fields around my home. They have now returned. There are about ten individuals, which I take to be family parties and they are feeding on the stubble fields. One even broke briefly into song the other day as the autumn temperature rose to summer levels, but generally they fly around in a flock calling incessantly. The only mystery is: Where did they go to for the month or so whilst they were absent?

Lapwings evading Peregrine

Pagham Harbour  - I watched a peregrine flying at a flock of around thirty lapwings. The falcon made a couple of cursory swoops at the flock and then managed to separate a single bird. I fully expected the hawk to pursue this vulnerable individual, but it allowed it to regain the safety of numbers. The hawk then began rapid wing beats and was clearly attempting to rapidly gain height. As it is normal for peregrines to swoop down upon their prey, this seemed to be a sensible action, however, what surprised me was the fact that the flock of lapwings merely flew higher (with fewer wing beats, it has to be said) and kept the hawk at the same altitude. This tactic proved to be successful and the peregrine flew into the distance.