Sat outside enjoying a barbie this evening in Bathpool when I noticed a Peregrine passing overhead at a fair height. Shortly later I saw a raptor dropping out of the sky at an incredible speed, and I assumed it to be the same Peregrine, but I was amazed to discover, when it hit a swift and leveled out, that it was, in fact, a female Sparrow Hawk.
I cycled back from Bridgwater along the canal towpath and in the Creech Heathfield area(Sat ~6pm) , I noticed an excited, tight circular flock of perhaps 100 starling, wheeling around. Above them was a sparrowhawk but it didn't make an attack. Perhaps the elements of surprise or a vulnerable individual were missing or there again, she (?) had already dined out on swift, Bill. Other serendipitous delights included very large numbers of what must have been black-tailed skimmer, (all male) basking on the towpath and a Deltic diesel locomotive.
