Off Topic Any twitchers on here ?

I'm particularly fond of birds but apart from those that are very common, I'm lost when it comes to giving them a name.
The back garden regularly hosts --- Robins, Blue Tits, Coal Tits and wood pigeons.
We also have to suffer the flying rats that are seagulls on occasions.
At various times we get starlings but not many.
I'm ok with this and if anything else comes into sight I try to identify it using 'old faithful', British Wildlife.

So, yesterday morning I went to the kitchen to do some washing up.
Out of the window I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a wood pigeon standing on the back fence.
So I carried on washing up.
Hang on though.
That's no right.
It's wearing 'trousers'.
It had heavily feathered legs almost to its feet.
And they weren't feet but talons.
And that beak belongs to a raptor.
And that's no more a wood pigeon than I am.

I called my Wife into the kitchen to see it but she wasn't impressed.
Firstly she couldn't spot it. Then when it moved to a different spot and she did she just said that it was a regular.
Is she right OR is she too confusing it with a wood pigeon?
I went to get my camera, but by the time I returned it was flying off, (towards Backhouse Park).
I THINK it was a Peregrine Falcon.

So, my question to anyone with a knowledge of our feathered friends is -

Could this have been a Peregrine Falcon, (or any other of the raptors), and might it be living locally?

 

Could have been a sparrowhawk. I get one that pops in my garden now and again to eat one of the smaller birds.

 

Absolutely loads on the Sunderland takeover thread...... Boom-tish.

 

I'd probs say sparrowhawk also, I've had them in my garden a few times

 

Maybe some parkinsons

 

The location and size all point to it being a sparrowhawk.

Peregrines are coastal and open country birds and although they have colonised towns and cities they generally perch high up on buildings or spires.

Sitting on a fence is typical sparrowhawk behaviour as they hunt small birds in gardens, whereas a peregrine will routinely hunt birds the size of gulls, ducks and pigeons. (ie the same sized bird as you saw).

Do keep looking back where you saw it, they're 'creatures of habit' when hunting and will often return to the same spot at the same time of day if they've been successful there.
You may be able to get a picture of it to upload?

 

I am actually nowt I live more than gan walking up to flats lane or Stewart's park having good mooch

Your wife should've been in the kitchen any way

Bloody feminists ( only joshing )

 

I used to have a bat flying round the back of the house. Given the quite urban area it was good to see.

 

Will be a sparrowhawk. One eviscerated a pigeon in my back garden once, it was traumatic.

 

Sorry don't know enough about birds to identify that. We get a few red kites around here, when they call out and you see them gliding overhead it feels like you're in a dusty canyon in America.

 

Home and found the picture I took of the sparrowhawk. Sorry it's a bit blurred but I took it on zoom through a wet window!

please log in to view this image

 

I’ve twitched at many a bird in my lifetime.

Sorry. Couldn’t resist. I’m a child. Forever.

 

eviscerated ???

They never use words like this on RTG

 

A bit like Jimmy McNab's tackling. Sorry one for the oldies!

 

Sounds like a sparrowhawk. Had one feeding on baby blackbirds in our back yard in SR6 earlier in the year. Couldn’t believe it in such a built up area which is usually just full of seagulls.

 

Hi Mate,
A Sparrow Hawk is the likliest bird BUT it depends where you live as I heard that Perigrines nested in South Tyneside this year and I saw one over Nanny Cow Hill, in between West Boldon and Town End. It was most likely a Peregrine as it was behaving like a falcon and not a hawk and a lot bigger than a Kestrel. I see Buzzards.round there but it wasn't that big. If you've had a Peregrine in your garden that's brill

I'm not a twitcher but a part time bird watcher by the way ;o)

 

Not been led but the op,has used the wrang terminology

A twitcher is someone who only goes for rare birds

What he should've posted was bird watchers

 

Nerd

 

I
I happen to be a nature lover myself

 

Oddly I was aware of the error but asking for 'bird watchers' was only ever going to encourage the more mischievous members to clutter up the thread with their irrelevant, (on this occasion), fantasies.

I also considered Ornithologist but I wasn't looking for an expert, just someone who knows what they were talking about.
CLEARLY I SUCCEEDED.
So I'd like to thank everyone for their advice and information.
Most illuminating and VERY educational.

If it's going to be a regular visitor, I'm going to have to decide what to do about things like the nesting boxes and bird table I have in the garden, but I'll worry about that if it becomes necessary.