Collaborative hunting?

I was taking the dog through a local over-grown meadow. There are rough grasses and patches of brambles and thickets of hawthorn. The dog scented a fox and ran into the undergrowth, shortly afterwards a large dog fox ran across my path not five metres away, then almost immediately afterwards, there was a screaming bird. A blackbird was being pursued by not one but two sparrowhawks, a female closely followed by a male. They went past me at high speed just ten meters away. The blackbird safely reached a thicket and the hawks flew over the top.
I have never previously seen anything like this and wonder whether there was an element of cooperation or whether simply the two birds went for the same prey.

Early Morning Walk

Heading out early the other day, my first significant sighting was of a covey of around twenty red legged partridge. Soon afterwards I saw two crows pursuing a bird of prey at high speed , all of them quite low to the ground. My binoculars revealed a goshawk which evaded its pursuers once it entered the cover of the woods. Later some skylarks were breaking into short bursts of song.

Magical Hour

I have lived at this location for two and half years and know that it is blessed with a fairly plentiful and varied wildlife. Yesterday soon after rising, I experienced an hour like no other I have known at this location. Looking out of the back window at the feeders, the following birds were seen: Blue tit; great tit; coal tit; long tailed tit; robin; dunnock; blackbird; song thrush; redwing; greater spotted woodpecker (2). A kestrel then landed on a tree at the bottom of a neighbouring garden. Looking out of the front window, I saw a green woodpecker checking under the tiles on the roof just a meter from me. In the field beyond sat four redlegged partridge and a brace of pheasants. In addition, the usual squadrons of gulls flew over east to west, whilst crows and jackdaws headed for their feeding fields. A short burst of skylark song could be heard as a few individual birds remain on the wintry fields.
A vole scurried amongst the plants, plundering the fallen offerings from the feeders.

Red Kites

Driving along our motorways over the last few days, I have seen numerous red kites, particularly over the M40. Walking in the black Mountains near Hay Bluff it was great to see three of these birds 'playing' on the uplift along the edge of the bluff. Seeing birds in a totally natural environment is for me, far better than seeing them over a motorway. Having said that, I do understand that they were once a common sight in the middle of London.

Ross on Wye

As evening drew close, rooks cawed overhead. Nothing remarkable about that, but then I saw them settling in a stand of trees with nests amongst the upper branches. Again, no surprise there except that this rookery was in the middle of a roundabout on the A40.

Goshawk

Walking along a ride through a local wood with the rain dripping onto my neck from the trees, I was pleasantly surprised to see a kestrel disturbed from a tree. The bird flew along the ride ahead of me and then out of sight as the path wound through the wood. Coming round a bend, I thought I might see it again, and there ahead of me, perched in a tree was a bird of prey. It instantly took to the air giving me just sufficient time to identify it as a female goshawk.
Skylarks are still breaking into short bursts of song, whilst the redwing numbers are growing with each day. So the sound of summer is sometimes intermingled with the sights of winter.