Garden Wildlife – Part 13 Kestrels

From my garden I can often see kestrels hovering. Not over the garden but in the next-door field.

The field has a very wild field margin and a wildflower meadow at the bottom. Great hunting grounds for birds of prey.

The downside of this piece of land for the kestrels, buzzards and red kites, is it is part of the local rookery’s territory and they are very protective of it.

Telephone wires run across the bottom third of the field, this is the boundary of the rook’s territory. Once they have chased a bird up to the wires they will turn around and fly back.

I’ve slowed the beginning of this clip down, but she is having to work really hard against the wind to stay in the same place

 

After unsuccessfully hunting, probably for voles,  she rested for a while before trying again.

 

You can tell this is a female kestrel as she doesn’t have the blue/grey head that the male does.

The Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) is one of Britain’s most common birds of prey although they have declined in the past few years. They are a familiar sight hovering over grassland or by the side of motorways.

They nest in buildings, holes in trees or cliff ledges, they lay 3 to 6 eggs which hatch after 27 to 31 days. In late summer the juveniles will leave their natal area and can travel up to 100 miles to find a new place to settle.

Kestrels can live up to 10 years in the wild.