I've no idea. Pretty much everyone on the nature forum says kestrel, and refers to certain markings. But I'm still stuck on the size of it - though I know little about birds of prey, it did seem to me WAY too big. I'll look up merlin! The trouble is, the picture's not very clear, and also gives no sense of scale.
Hmm, my first thought was kestrel (it'd make sense seeing perched low) but there is something un-kestrelly about it. If it didn't look mature I'd have suggested a juvenile harrier or something like. Identiftying's hard work innit!
This blog charts the fortunes of water voles in and around the Whitchurch area, North Shropshire. Water voles are one of the UK's most threatened mammals, extinct in many counties, and so it's vital they receive as much monitoring and protection as there is going. Here in Whitchurch we're lucky enough to have them right in the middle of town - how cool is that?
4 comments:
Wow! What terrific pictures they are.
That raptor wasn't a merlin, was it?
Nik
I've no idea. Pretty much everyone on the nature forum says kestrel, and refers to certain markings. But I'm still stuck on the size of it - though I know little about birds of prey, it did seem to me WAY too big. I'll look up merlin! The trouble is, the picture's not very clear, and also gives no sense of scale.
Hmm, my first thought was kestrel (it'd make sense seeing perched low) but there is something un-kestrelly about it. If it didn't look mature I'd have suggested a juvenile harrier or something like. Identiftying's hard work innit!
I'll say. I know I'm on safe ground with my voles!
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