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I was contemplating getting the camera out when …
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We’ve all probably got stories like this …
I’m inbetween contracts right now so I went down to my family home in north Wexford last Friday for a coupe of days. It was nice outside. I went outside and was watching the 3 birdfeeders that are hanging from one of the trees. The tree is in the plot, just outside the gate, maybe 15 yards away. It was full of birds: finches and tits mostly. I was thinking about getting the camera and tripod out and wondering where I’d set up to make the best use of the light or maybe going out into the neighbouring field and waiting for some of the pheasants that feed there.
All of a sudden, all the birds screamed and flew out of the tree. Simultaneously, something flashed right in front of me (maybe 10 yards away) about 6 feet from the ground. It flew into the tree and landed in the back. I tried to move around to get a view of what it was. I was sure it had to be a bird of prey but I’d never seen one down home. My head kept screaming it was a pidgeon. Next thing, the bird screeched out and I was sure it was no pidgeon. It was deffo a bird of prey. I could see it had a blue-ish/grey tint to it’s feathears. After a couple of seconds it took off in the opposite direction. It had longish legs and maybe a 14 or so inch wingspan. I’m guessing it was a Sparrowhawk. I’ve only seen them on TV but it kind of fit the bill.
The whole thing lasted less than 10 seconds but it was very cool. I was out for much of Friday/Saturday but didn’t see it again.
Sounds like it could be a merlin.
Male sparrowhawks are smallish, but 14″ sounds too small.
There are quite a few in and around Rosslare, not sure if they are
Sparrowhawks or Merlins but definitely one of the two, you can see
them when walking along the beach they are always hovering over
the cliff tops, fantastic sight, bet you wish you had your camera set
up :)Shutterbug
Something similar happened to me only it lasted long enough to fire off a few snaps.
I have a fake owl that is supposed to frighten birds away from our fruit trees.
I heard an awful loud screeching outside and saw this guy sitting on our fence.
It turns out he has fighting our fake owl.
He knocked over the owl a few times and I kept putting it back upright again. It was fascinating and exciting to watch.
I took this just outside of Dromore. It was in a field when I first saw it, but by the time I’d stopped the car and got the camera out it was flying off.
It was incredible on the ground – it was the size of a small turkey.
No idea what it is.I was walking along the beach beside the harbour where
the ferries dock, I am not down there very often but nearly
always spot one or two when I am there.Shutterbug
Looks like a Buzzard to me also, they’ve really started to spread south in the last few years.I’ve seen lots in Meath and along the Dublin coast.
I’ve yet to see one on the ground though :xDefinately a buzzard in that shot as far as I can tell… lots of them around where I live in Louth.. the closest I got with a camera is this….:
Went back many times after seeing it many times and no sightings… bloody annoying after I bout a new lens especially for this type of stuff… ah well my time will come…!
Richie
I finally saw a live fox yesterday. I was out in my local haunt on my never ending chase to get a decent shot of a Kestrel that hunts there. I was hiding out in some long reeds watching the sky for mabye 2.5 hours. The light was fantastic… great glow. The I spot something moving on the ground about 30 yards away out of the corner of my eye. I turn and can’t believe it. Bounding through the long grass was a big ol’ fox. It was gone in 5 seconds in an area that you can’t follow unless you wan to be discovered by archeologists in 10,000 years. I waited for ages for it to come back. A fruitless day with the camera but a cool sighting made up for it.
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