Friday 13 November
I think I saw a Goshawk circling above the school today. I don’t whether that’s an ominous sign on Friday 13th?
I am pretty sure it was a Goshawk, I have only ever seen one other before. Christmas Day 2019, I went for a morning walk with Mabel before the family came round for Christmas dinner.
It was just me and Mabel, and as we walked around the bend in the lane she stopped still, staring at the white pick up truck ahead. Not wanting to budge any further, I took the lead, and she reluctantly followed.
A few steps further, out heads turned in synch to our right side and the sound of a small bell. A man in green country wear backed out of the hedgerow with hands full. He held a ferret by the scruff of its neck in one hand and a leather strap in the other. The strap was connected to the foot of a stunning Goshawk.
I had a brief chat with the guy who explained how the two animals worked together to hunt and catch rabbits. The hawk would circle above the field and strike first. The ferret would cause the rabbit if it does down a hole.
We continued walking and completed our loop of the fields and as we came back the hawk was on the grass verge, next to the truck, tearing threads of bloody meat from a warm, dead rabbit. The efficiency by which she ate hinted at the efficiency and prowess she must have shown as a hunter and killer.
Indeed, Goshawks are deadly efficient killers. And as the white under parts flashed in the afternoon sunshine above the school, I spared a thought for the rabbit or bird that was going to spending it’s last day alive today. There are around 8000 in the UK today and recovering well from virtual extinction in the 19th century.
The Bald Birder 