Wildlife watch: Sparrowhawk
Kate Bradbury takes a closer look at sparrowhawks, one of our smallest birds of prey
The sparrowhawk is one of our smallest birds of prey. The male is around the size of blackbird and has blue-grey back and wing feathers with orange-brown stripes on the chest and belly. The female is slightly larger than a mistle thrush and is more brown in colour, with brown stripes on the chest and belly.
Both sexes hunt small birds such as sparrows, tits and finches, although the larger female may also take thrushes, starlings and pigeons. Small mammals are also taken. They're well adapted to hunting birds in confined spaces like woodland, so do well in gardens, where they will easily take a bird from a feeder or tree branch.
In spring, sparrowhawks build a nest of twigs high up in a tree in woodland, parks and larger gardens. The female lays up to five eggs and incubates them for around a month. Both parents feed the chicks the remains of birds and small mammals.
How to help sparrowhawks
Some people don’t like seeing sparrowhawks prey on ‘their’ garden birds, but rest assured this is nature, and sparrowhawks are a sign of a healthy bird environment. To ‘help’ them specifically, make sure you have plenty of trees and shrubs for them and other birds to take shelter. If you have a large garden, tall trees, particularly conifers, can encourage them to nest.
If you want to even out the stakes between sparrowhawks and their prey, you could stop feeding garden birds, which would mean sparrowhawks have less of a sitting target. Some suggest elevated feeding can deter them rather than feeding on the ground, but removing feeders altogether will reduce incidences of small birds gathering in one place, which makes it easy for predators to attack.
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