Scrapping Spars!

Searching the Yorkshire coast again for passage migrant birds last week brought us precious few ... a smattering of Redstarts,  'WillowChaffs', Whitethroats and a Lesser Whitethroat but the undoubted highlight was a couple of scrapping Sparrowhawks at Buckton. Quite why they were being so aggressive to one another I'm not sure - maybe they were looking for the same prey as us and similarly frustrated took it out on each other! More than likely though one of these birds is just an intruder on the others patch; whatever the reason it was great drama, went on for a good 5 minutes and I'm reasonably pleased with these captures....

All started out quite tame ... just a couple of Spars out a hunting




Sparrowhawk wars, Buckton, 11/09/15



Sparrowhawk wars, Buckton, 11/09/15



Sparrowhawk wars, Buckton, 11/09/15

..... all going so well and then it got kinda nasty!



Sparrowhawk wars, Buckton, 11/09/15

Sparrowhawk wars, Buckton, 11/09/15



Sparrowhawk wars, Buckton, 11/09/15

Sparrowhawk wars, Buckton, 11/09/15

 
 

Sparrowhawk wars, Buckton, 11/09/15

 Not sure if this was the winner or the loser but with normal service resumed after all the commotion it was the sharpest pic!

Sparrowhawk wars, Buckton, 11/09/15

I've never seen Sparrowhawks being so aggressive with one another, in fact not common to see this much interaction between birds that are more often than not seen as lone hunters.