Our "pied crow" (not the genuine article, but a carrion crow with white feathers on each wing) has become a very regular visitor, helping to sweep up after other visitors to our bird feeders. The other day our local nesting carrion crows (the pair that laid into a passing raven on Great Garden Birdwatch Day) spotted him and sailed rapidly into the attack, driving him down into the woodland below our garden. Next time we saw him one of his wings was looking very shabby: my guess is that the other crows' attacks focus particularly on the white feathers. He has a sad life, really.
The same route down into the wood was taken at high speed by a sparrow hawk on Sunday afternoon. I just happened to glance through the window, and it went past like a bullet. They are remarkably aerodynamic - this was a pretty solid bird, but it hurtled past, making slight adjustments to clear our back fence by what looked like a fraction of an inch, and then pass between the trees behind. I didn't see what it was chasing.
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