Beautiful but an assassin

There is something fascinating in the antics of a Sparrowhawk. Mostly they are seen flying swiftly between trees and bushes in pursuit of their prey. Sometimes, when they land they are aware of small birds still hiding in the shrubbery and they spend a time climbing around hoping either to spook a small bird into making a fateful dash for it or they use their extremely long legs to reach in and grab the hapless prey.

This beautiful male Sparrowhawk has popped into the garden a few times in the last week or so, although I've not seen it be successful in that time, Today it landed on an archway, half way down the garden and although all the small birds had vanished, as far st I could see, it was still very actively looking around.

It moved from one side of the arch to the other, but nothing moved below in the bushes.

So deeply was it concentrating on what was happening around him that I was able to open the window and photograph with out the encumbrance  of a rain marked pane.

Eventually it moved to the side of the garden, in thick vegetation, but when it reappeared it hadn't been successful, and the flock of Chaffinches seems to have remained in tact.