I went into the garden yesterday morning to collect fallen apples and was presented with evidence of nature red in beak and claw flourishing in my suburban garden. Wood pigeon wing and tail feathers were scattered across the grass; and a neat corona of breast feathers lay not more than three metres from the French windows. The prey was easy to identify, but what about the predator? Surely not the kestrel I saw sitting at the top of the leylandii two weeks ago. Possibly a peregrine, which soars overhead occasionally; or a sparrow hawk, which I’ve never seen here.
Photo: Raptor prey, Mowbray Road, October 2018