{"id":2437,"date":"2012-11-03T23:11:18","date_gmt":"2012-11-03T23:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/2437"},"modified":"2013-11-03T00:57:13","modified_gmt":"2013-11-03T00:57:13","slug":"kestrel-out-hunting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/kestrel-out-hunting\/","title":{"rendered":"Kestrel out hunting"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

After the dire summer it's a pleasure to say that we are enjoying the occasional bright late autumn day. This afternoon the sight of blue skies encouraged me out to Sheepcote Valley where the kestrels fly. It took me a while to find any, and even then it was difficult to get close. This first shot is a typical hover\/hunting pose.
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During the summer months they are as likely to pick off crickets as anything else, but as winter approaches the kestrels are reverting to their more traditional fare of small rodents. In this sequence the unlucky prey is, I think, a vole.
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The kestrel eventually carried its prey to a distant tree, and then after some minor mobbing by magpies retreated over into the next valley.
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Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.<\/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":[990,980],"tags":[1152,1131],"class_list":["post-2437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bird-of-prey","category-birds-2","tag-kestrel","tag-prey","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