wildlife

[Roma]

Blends in well with the rocks and the euphorbia, Fermi.

[ichristie]

Super pictures Fermi thanks for posting,  cheers Ian the Christie kind

[mark smyth]

Some recent Squirrel pictures taken from my kitchen window.  The one with four was taken at lunchtime today.  It's unusual to see so many that close.  It did end in fighting

Fantastic. Do you have any snow scenes with them that would make a good Christmas card? Thinking of a red sitting on a snow covered log or fence post

[mark smyth]

"Mark, hurry with the food we're starving"

Almost 60kg of sunflower hearts eaten so far this autumn/winter. 100s of goldfinches, greenfinches, chaffinches and house sparrows coming daily

[annew]

wow! I thought we did well with 8!
Fermi, your very elegant dove appears to have had one too many espressos 

[brianw]

I have bought 180kg of sunflower hearts in 2015 for my neighbour and myself, plus a few other things. Can't ground feed; managed to be free of 4 legged wildlife for a year or more now, mice etc. apart probably. Trap down in the greenhouse tonight as evidence of them in a couple of pots. Maybe I can tempt the kestrels with something at last if I catch one.

[mark smyth]

over the last week or 10 days I've got at least one brambling visiting

[fermi de Sousa]

Fermi, your very elegant dove appears to have had one too many espressos 

Well, we have been using coffee grounds in the garden!
 
cheers
fermi

[ian mcdonald]

Mark, good picture of the brambling. A bird I have not had in the garden. Happy New Year to all.

[mark smyth]

Some of the guesstimated 500,000 starlings that gather at a roost site in the Mourne mountains here in N Ireland

[Roma]

Saw a small 'ball' of starlings flying in formation today around noon then a larger flock of crows all over the place.
A friend found two little auks on her property on Sunday and I saw on Facebook today that a number have been found in the North East.  The New Arc, a local rescue centre is looking afterat least a dozen.

[Chris Johnson]

There have been a few sightings of Little Auks along the Atlantic coast but no casualties reported, fortunately.

[mark smyth]

One turned up in a yard outside Belfast yesterday

[Roma]

Would a sparrowhawk eat a kestrel or? another sparrowhawk?  I went for a quick walk in the wood at the back of the house on Saturday and came across a pile of feathers on top of the root of a fallen tree.  I thought a sparrowhawk had eaten a pigeon when I saw a pair of yellow legs and thought that's no pigeon.  I did not have my camera and the rain was getting heavier.  By the time I got home it was too dull and wet to go back.  Not sure why I didn't go yesterday but I went today and found the legs had gone and the feathers even more bedraggled so I have no record of the legs.
Tree root
Feathers

[TC]

I think you should consider a Goshawk as the predator.  Kestrels rarely frequent woodlands and the feathers don't look right.  It's more like a Sparrowhawk although it is almost impossible to say from the pictures.
Sparrowhawks and Owls are on a Goshawk's prey list.  So much so that they can clear out a wood of all other birds of prey.
An interesting thing about Goshawks is that they are almost never mobbed by any other bird.  Whereas other birds of prey may tolerate being mobbed, a Goshawk will regard mobbing as a chance for an easy meal.  Crows and Rooks are quiet when a Goshawk is about and try to slink away unseen.