{"id":1229,"date":"2008-10-18T23:10:25","date_gmt":"2008-10-18T22:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/1229"},"modified":"2013-11-19T00:30:45","modified_gmt":"2013-11-19T00:30:45","slug":"pattern-recognition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/pattern-recognition\/","title":{"rendered":"Pattern Recognition"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

It feels like it's been a long week, and work commitments have meant that I've missed much of the excellent autumn weather. To make up for it, last weekend I headed off to the Downs and found a kestrel<\/a>. Today was spent in the garden clearing fallen leaves, sorting out the pond, and keeping my eyes on the sky overhead. <\/p>\n

There were gulls and pigeons (of course), and small flocks of starlings. The jackdaws were massing, and an occasional magpie flew overhead. A general pattern developed, which meant I didn't have to concentrate too hard on the overhead activity to know when things changed. And they did. Twice.<\/p>\n

Late morning I glanced up and noticed three large birds flying toward the garden. And they weren't usual visitors. The size, and formation didn't fit the pattern. I kept watching. As they approached I could see they weren't any of the usual passers-by. Not quite a first, but certainly the first time I've seen them here.<\/p>\n

Cormorants, about three miles inland, but heading out in the direction of the coast. <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The afternoon was much as the morning, with gulls, jackdaws<\/a> and the occasional pigeon (no cormorants though!). I got on with clearing the leaves. Then I noticed something change in the way the gulls were flocking, something about their ever more intense calling and circling. I glanced up. Gliding gently down the length of the garden, at a very moderate height (just above the trees), was a sparrowhawk; hunting, but not finding, prey. <\/p>\n

Sparrowhawk approaching<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Both sequences were brief. The cormorants were overhead for 23 seconds, the sparrowhawk for about 20 seconds (though it circled a short distance away for another minute before being seen off by the gulls). Not as brief as recent fox sightings though. But I did manage a shot of the vixen<\/a> last night (Friday).<\/p>\n

Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[980,989],"tags":[449,1154],"class_list":["post-1229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds-2","category-water-birds-birds-2","tag-cormorant","tag-sparrowhawk","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t