Death on the lawn

Mrs Tarboat summoned me to the kitchen window one evening to see the drama unfolding on our lawn. A Sparrowhawk had dropped in for supper. One of our local collared doves did not make it .................... There wasn't much left afterwards.

When I was young we never ever saw Sparrowhawks but now they appear to be fairly common. Certainly this isn't the first time that we have watched the local bird population being reduced in this way. The previous occasion a bluetit provided a light snack for a Sparrowhawk that then spent an hour dozing in the hollybush under the kitchen window.