Sparrowhawk

This afternoon, a sparrowhawk swept through our garden - slate grey wings looking beautiful in today's cold but clear sunshine, a skilled and effortless transit of our patch, so in control. Our visiting birds had all scattered in plenty of time, and didn't return for quite a while. It was probably twenty minutes before we saw anything more than a couple of chaffinches. That leads me to think awhile on how for some birds, the blue tits that are among our most common visitors in particular, life is about being scared all the time. They will dart up to the feeder, grab something quickly, and flee, having first perched somewhere and looked around anxiously in every direction to make sure the coast is clear. Often they don't make it to the feeder at all, having been spooked by some real or imagined danger. Today one blue tit made a dash for the feeder only to bounce straight back, the blackcap being in residence and quickly on to him.