Sparrowhawk v Wood-pigeon!! Unexpected backyard battle!! 

Thanks for leaving the 1st comment ❤. I have been watching the wood pigeon and its mate, build their nest in our tree for last few days. So had been looking forward to seeing their fledglings. Now the other half of the pair is sat all alone, in the tree. Which is sad. But the sparrowhawk has to hunt to eat and probably has a family of it's own to feed as well. As I've never seen a raptor up close before, it was absolutely fascinating to see it at work. But I am a bit worried that our bird feeders will be included in the sparrowhawks daily food scout, now it's eaten here successfully!!

Hi, thanks for commenting. This was my 1st up-close raptor sighting. This actually went on for about 40 minutes with the sparrowhawk seeming to spend most of its time stood on the wood-pigeons chest. I assumed that the hawk was attempting to force air out of pigeons lungs and then using its weight to prevent the lungs from re-inflating, basically starving its victim of oxygen. But that's purely theory on my part 😂

Nik that poor bird. Do not know how it lasted so long. Unfortunately that's nature. Was not nice to watch but was interesting. Xxx

I would like to see a prey successfully fighting back the hawk and win.

Adult female sparrowhawk,an elusive bird your very lucky to see it so close.

Having been a fan of raptors all my life,I've often wondered why they don't concentrate on the neck /head area to kill more quickly and therefore subdue the prey quicker and expend less energy, same as wild dogs and wolves which also eat there prey alive