{"id":1399,"date":"2009-05-24T23:05:11","date_gmt":"2009-05-24T22:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/1399"},"modified":"2013-11-14T18:50:51","modified_gmt":"2013-11-14T18:50:51","slug":"a-kestrel-manouevres-in-the-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/a-kestrel-manouevres-in-the-park\/","title":{"rendered":"A kestrel manouevres in the park"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Ok, I tried that joke last week, but this time it's appropriate. I was down at the local kestrel site this afternoon, and spent most of the time tracking kestrels. They were highly active, sweeping across the valley in search of prey. But the visit started with an encounter between a crow and a kestrel. I was some way off so these shots are not the best, but they show the different size of the birds quite well.
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<\/span> Crow and kestrel<\/span><\/p>\n

Those shots were taken within a minute of my arrival. The spat ended with the birds going their separate ways, and it wasn't long before the kestrel was back out hunting.<\/p>\n

I tracked back and forth across the valley, trying to get a bit closer. Good exercise for me, though complicated by my attempts to keep the sun to my back. It was about 15 minutes before our paths finally came into alignment.
<\/span> Kestrel<\/span><\/p>\n

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There were several more shots in flight before he swooped down into the grass and emerged carrying something…
<\/span> Kestrel with prey<\/span><\/p>\n

I followed his path, and then saw that he was feeding on the wing. I've seen this before (with a bush cricket as prey), but this time it was something else he had.
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In case those are too distant to help, I've cropped to 100%.
<\/span> Kestrel with what is probably a common lizard<\/span><\/p>\n

Assuming the i.d. of the prey is correct, that's a first sighting for me!<\/p>\n

Later, I saw a kestrel carrying off more standard fare in the form of a vole. Clearly though they have quite a varied diet (voles, shrews, crickets, lizards!) which is no doubt why they are so successful here.
<\/span> Kestrel with vole<\/span><\/p>\n

All of which means I've not had time to talk about the foxes. I did see one on the Downs again today. It was a brief sighting of what may well have been the vixen I saw out stalking rabbits about a week ago. Here she is today. I'll call her the Valley Vixen.
<\/span> Valley vixen<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the garden. Over the past couple of days we've seen a squirrel, the wood mouse, the hedgehogs, several bats. No badger sighting, and the cub hasn't been back yet. But the Bold Vixen has reverted to type and has generated an overload of photographic opportunities. Here's just one from this evening.
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\"Nature<\/a><\/span>
Camera note: all the shots out on the Downs were taken with the EF 400mm f\/5.6L USM lens. I used the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM for the Bold Vixen.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,4],"tags":[1128,1152],"class_list":["post-1399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bird-of-prey","category-foxes","tag-fox","tag-kestrel","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