Thursday, August 06, 2009

Bird of Prey

Hilly Fields Meadow area

This may be delusion or misidentification but has anyone else seen a prey of prey, possibly a kestral or sparrow hawk, swooping and floating lazily around the meadow area of Hilly Fields?

The family Skitster have twice seen a dunn or light brown bird with a fanned tail, moving like a bird of prey on the footpath by the meadow area of Hilly Fields, on the way down to Adelaide Avenue. We've seen it perching on the lamposts, possibly eviscerating it's lunch.

Update: Mrs Skitster found the Hilly Fields Birdwatch blog this afternoon, thanks also to Sue for pointing us that way, which is a good blog with some stunning shots of the kestral.

5 comments:

. said...

Kestrels are pretty commmon obviously, but Peregrine Falcons are also seen in South London - somebody told me they'd seen one in a Pepys Rd garden for instance. Not sure if either of these fit your description mind

Anonymous said...

I can't comment on your particular bird, but I see sparrowhawks in Dulwich fairly frequently (often whipping past the bird feeders) and kestrels from time to time. And I did see peregrine high over Dulwich Park once — I don't imagine they're nesting anywhere nearby but I think they hunt over a wide area.

Anonymous said...

Yep, you're right, it's a kestrel. See Hilly Fields Birdwatch for pictures.

. said...

Wow thanks Sue, what a great site.

Anonymous said...

I've also seen an owl in that part of the park - earlier this summer. I'm not an expert but think it was a tawny owl.

Nick