A life or death drama!

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Yesterday morning my partner remarked that he had just seen a baby Muntjac deer in the garden (Muntjac breed all year round). We both rushed to the kitchen door to have a look, but of course it had disappeared into the bushes. But then I noticed a bird on the ground just a few metres from the door. It was under a small shrub, and at first I thought it could be injured. It was a sparrowhawk, and it looked as if it was having a bit of trouble walking, and of course it was on the ground which I have never seen – sparrowhawks are normally either perched in a tree watching for potential victims, or swooping past at top speed to catch a small bird in flight. After a minute or two though we realised it was trying to get at something in the shrub, which had dense thin branches all radiating out from the centre. The sparrowhawk would walk around one side, staring intently into the shrub, then turn and go the other way. The trouble walking was just tripping over ivy stems on the ground as it was busy looking for something. It was so close I was regretting not grabbing my ‘phone to take a picture. I turned to go and get it, but at that point the sparrowhawk noticed my movement and flew away. I went outside to see what was going on but even peering into the bare branches of the shrub from above (it’s quite low) I couldn’t see what was in there – until, suddenly, a tiny bird flew out, perched on some netting for a moment, then made off into the nearby willow tree. So a little goldcrest lived for another day, though of course the poor sparrowhawk went hungry. I didn’t get a picture of the sparrowhawk, nor of the goldcrest either, but here’s a picture from a few years ago when we found one that had bumped into a window. All rights reserved. © Text copyright Fleur 2025; image copyright Fleur 2019.