Guest nikkimass35 Posted February 27, 2011 Report Posted February 27, 2011 Hi all i saw a female sparrowhawk sitting on my loft this evening just before it got dark. It has been raining here in aylesbury all day. I know of a few flyers near by who have lost birds to a sparrowhawk recently. I have seen it sitting in trees and trying to get other birds, but never seen it on my loft till this evening.When my birds go out its always in the morning and have no problems. Do you think its just noticed the pigeons are here, as i only moved the birds here in the summer and have kept them in all winter. Do you think it will come back the same time every evening,
tiger Posted February 27, 2011 Report Posted February 27, 2011 Hi all i saw a female sparrowhawk sitting on my loft this evening just before it got dark. It has been raining here in aylesbury all day. I know of a few flyers near by who have lost birds to a sparrowhawk recently. I have seen it sitting in trees and trying to get other birds, but never seen it on my loft till this evening.When my birds go out its always in the morning and have no problems. Do you think its just noticed the pigeons are here, as i only moved the birds here in the summer and have kept them in all winter. Do you think it will come back the same time every evening, if so i will have a surprise waiting for it. yes it will mate
lvlasked Posted February 27, 2011 Report Posted February 27, 2011 just keep an "eye" out for it when ur birds out flying
Guest nikkimass35 Posted February 27, 2011 Report Posted February 27, 2011 Thanks for your replys. Sparrowhawks have not been a really big problem down here. But as these evil things are spreading, we will all encounter problems sooner than later. Its really weird we have a pair of peregrines about quarter of a mile away, and dont seem to bother the pigeons as they have been seen hunting on the water birds on the big lakes about 5 miles away.
TOMMY R Posted February 27, 2011 Report Posted February 27, 2011 Hi all i saw a female sparrowhawk sitting on my loft this evening just before it got dark. It has been raining here in aylesbury all day. I know of a few flyers near by who have lost birds to a sparrowhawk recently. I have seen it sitting in trees and trying to get other birds, but never seen it on my loft till this evening.When my birds go out its always in the morning and have no problems. Do you think its just noticed the pigeons are here, as i only moved the birds here in the summer and have kept them in all winter. Do you think it will come back the same time every evening, I,VE HAD SPARROWHAWK PROBLEMS FOR YEARS AND FIND THAT THEY VISIT THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY USUALLY EARLY MORNING / 11.30 AND 5.00 P.M THEN THEY RETURN APPROX 20 MINS LATER
Guest nikkimass35 Posted February 27, 2011 Report Posted February 27, 2011 I will keep an eye out. The weird thing is when i scared it of the loft, about a minute later if flew past me and then 2 minutes after that it flew straight over my head. Evil things something has to be done soon there is way to many of this horrible creatures.
Guest G.Drysdale + son Posted February 27, 2011 Report Posted February 27, 2011 We've got them at our compound thankfully not taken a pigeon for a couple of years but we've all lost doos at our lofts due to them
Guest bluemorning Posted February 28, 2011 Report Posted February 28, 2011 after prolonged rainfall spars are hungry and will take chances,see hawk attacks over last few days put on a reply.good luck
magpie Posted March 4, 2011 Report Posted March 4, 2011 Kept our birds in all winter because of raptor problems and only started letting the stock birds and some latebreds have open loft a month ago after pairing up. Since then seven have gone missing. Only found a few piles of feathers in the fields around the loft until earlier this week when another went missing and was found dead (partly eaten) in the garden with classic signs of hawk attack. Today another cock which had flown Tarbes disappeared and its body was found not far from the loft in similar circumstances. We haven't seen a sparrowhawk but everything points to that being the culprit. It's just soul destroying and makes you wonder whether it's worth continuing after over 50 years in the sport. The widowhood team have been paired up for a week now and ideally we would like to start letting them out to get a good hatch and to let them fly themselves fit for the season - but until the attacks stop that would surely result in more losses. Mark my words, this problem will be the death of pigeon racing if we don't find an answer to it quickly !
billt Posted March 4, 2011 Report Posted March 4, 2011 Hi Magpie, I'm sorry to hear of your losses, I can only say in reply, my birds are on open loft all year and my losses are minimal, I live in rural West Wales and we have all BOP's here, I think shutting them up puts them at a disadvantage as the BOP's are fit at all times and I think our birds need to be on open loft to compete with them.
OLDYELLOW Posted March 4, 2011 Report Posted March 4, 2011 to me having a open loft is like having opened a fast food take away fer bops no mater what time of day food is available and as long as theres food they'll stay
billt Posted March 4, 2011 Report Posted March 4, 2011 to me having a open loft is like having opened a fast food take away fer bops no mater what time of day food is available and as long as theres food they'll stay I know I should have that problem but I don't and I've tried it both ways, unfit birds don't stand a chance
kev01293 Posted March 4, 2011 Report Posted March 4, 2011 had a sparrowhawk fly into my birds yesterday just as they landed on the loft roof,it flew straight at the loft roof and swerved scattering my birds everywhere, most of my birds ended up coming back 10 or so mins later and just circled the house but i then noticed that the s/hawk was flying above them but not attacking them,i managed to get them all in eventually but cant understand why it didnt fly into them when they returned and circled my house? any theories anyone? kev
Guest dennisrenton Posted March 4, 2011 Report Posted March 4, 2011 mine where out out flying couple days ago heard this commotion in the loft,went in to see what the problem was, sparrow-hawkhad one of my birds pinned to the floor of coarse when it saw me enter,the bloody thing flew low at my legs and escaped, luckilythe my blue hen was ok not a mark on her,so now when i hear anything thing hatches are closed will say no more.
billt Posted March 4, 2011 Report Posted March 4, 2011 had a sparrowhawk fly into my birds yesterday just as they landed on the loft roof,it flew straight at the loft roof and swerved scattering my birds everywhere, most of my birds ended up coming back 10 or so mins later and just circled the house but i then noticed that the s/hawk was flying above them but not attacking them,i managed to get them all in eventually but cant understand why it didnt fly into them when they returned and circled my house? any theories anyone? kevOnce your birds are airborne the s/hawk doesn't stand much chance, it's surprise grabs she relies on, when the birds are perched around the loft
glenrandal Posted March 4, 2011 Report Posted March 4, 2011 have lost 5 yearlings in two weeks to the hen sparrowhawk it seems they take the good ones
Guest IB Posted March 5, 2011 Report Posted March 5, 2011 I've not been able to get the birds out as often as I'd like this winter so am not looking forward to it. A while back I kept them in during winter only to lose 2 on 1st week of release. Another former club mate quite near stopped keeping them in because of the numbers he was losing at release. He reckoned keeping them in made them too unfit. I think it really depends on your own personal circumstances, I don't have anything like the same bother as some, and mine normally go out winter weekends, to keep them ticking over.
glenrandal Posted March 5, 2011 Report Posted March 5, 2011 mine been on open hole witnessed the sparrow strike and she can catch them no problem they seem to freeze with fear
kev01293 Posted March 5, 2011 Report Posted March 5, 2011 can a cock sparrowhawk take a pigeon mid air and carry it off or is that just the hen sparrowhawk? kev
Guest G.Drysdale + son Posted March 5, 2011 Report Posted March 5, 2011 My mate got a pigeon attacked today got a photo but don't know how to add it
tiger Posted March 5, 2011 Report Posted March 5, 2011 can a cock sparrowhawk take a pigeon mid air and carry it off or is that just the hen sparrowhawk? kev no two small , ;imo
billt Posted March 5, 2011 Report Posted March 5, 2011 can a cock sparrowhawk take a pigeon mid air and carry it off or is that just the hen sparrowhawk? kevNo chance mate, he's hardly big enough to take a blackbird, even a hen would struggle to take and carry in the air, if you've seen it happen that would be a Gos hawk, nightmare
magpie Posted March 5, 2011 Report Posted March 5, 2011 Sparrowhawks usually swoop in when the pigeons are on the loft etc, the birds try to take off but are knocked down before they get up to full speed, pinned to the ground and eaten alive. As a result most sparrowhawk victims will be found fairly close to the loft. Peregrines are a different proposition and can catch their prey in full flight and are strong enough to carry them off. Very much doubt if a cock or hen sparrowhawk could carry a fully grown racing pigeon very far.
Guest dennisrenton Posted March 5, 2011 Report Posted March 5, 2011 hawk back today,got some help off crows they mobbed it and drove it off,lets hope the crows roost insmall wooded area where my loft is.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now