I know it's nature BUT

One of my favourite birds is the Sparrow - I love watching them bathe in the soil that I have just turned over in the garden - watching them chase each other and then feed from the bird feeder on the apple tree. My neighbour, William, has all sorts of goodies in his garden to attract them plus a variety of nesting boxes which they do use. However, over the last few years we have sadly noticed their demise as less and less sparrows visit and nest in our gardens.

a pair of china sparrows Nigel & I received as a wedding present 28 years ago.

I know one of the reasons why and it's because we must have nesting sparrowhawks in the area - last year they visited my garden a few times to capture sparrows and this morning my theory was proved right when I heard twittering in the garden and rush to the patio door only to see a sparrowhawk swoop down into the hedges and swoop out with a little sparrow in its clutches (the sparrow was still alive) then the sparrowhawk landed on the path in my garden with the intention of killing its prey. I thought (foolishly) if I banged on the window it would drop the sparrow and fly off but no it just flew off with the sparrow and the sparrows family and friends twittering in the background.

Sparrowhawk - picture taken from the internet.

Now I know that it's all part of nature BUT it still churned my stomach to witness the catch.