Not many pips about

My last four bat counts have totalled a measly five bats - just over one bat per count. There are still some pippistrelles around but they don't seem to be sleeping in this particular roost. Earlier this year I counted a record 115 bats leaving the roost. It looks like I may have to wait until next year to see if they will return in numbers.

Sparrowhawk in the garden

Confirmed sparrowhawk as a new species yesterday although previously I thought I had seen one flying in the distance and there had also been some suspicious collections of pigeon and dove feathers.......

I heard a magpie making warning calls around 7pm. I looked out the window and a sparrowhawk had hold of a collared dove on the lawn. My movement, as I appeared in the window, scared him and he flew away with the dove in talons.

I had not got a close-up view of the prey and there was a residual concern just in case it had been one of the juvenile moorhens as they spend a lot of time on the lawn. However the colour of the feathers at the scene and the reappearance of all four juveniles today means it was a dove.