At last ... the Merlin has landed ...

[Clicker]

This beautiful bird of prey  (Britain's smallest falcon ) has been  zooming around my garden for the past three to four years and I have only once  caught in on camera as it  landed in the magnolia tree  one summer where the foliage  hindered my view  it. Today  I spotted it  through the  French doors on the gate in the  courtyard where it stayed long enough for me  to grab the camera , change the lens  and  catch it a dozen times before  it  sped off  like lightening !  Chuffed to bits  though I wish I could have got all of his tail in  too!

[Monkey]

Lovely 

[Fogey]

Brilliant shot, Polly.   Well done on being a fast thinker and mover.

I don't think I've seen one in the flesh in all my years.

[Clicker]

Here is another  shot ....     after 4 years  I actually got 12  shots ... Glad I'm  not a professional  wildlife  togger trying to make a living at this !! 

         

[Fogey]

Lovely shot, Polly - you've even caught the droplets of rain beading on the birds head.

[CMunzel]

I can imagine that made your day! Lovely bird shots, Clicker. Its called a Merlin?

[Clicker]

It did make my day Cheryl … yes it is a Merlin … they fly so fast, even catching a blur is difficult!!  It was taken through the glass of the French doors in the lounge and was about 25-30 feet away. I didn’t have time  to get the tripod out and so it was hand held with the 400 mm lens….

[CMunzel]

Have you seen catching prey in your garden over the years?

[Clicker]

Well I have seen a bue/grey flash a few times and  a puff  of  feathers just floating down to the ground  as a songbird  just disappeared before my eyes  but I  have only seen it land three times  in a tree  in the garden , in stealth mode !  They are on the red list  with the RSPB and I  believe pesticides  were  the cause of their  reduction in numbers  I think  there are only just over 1000 breeding pairs in the Uk ... they are quite solitary birds  ... finding a mate may well be a problem . I think this looked like a male ....  the females   are more brown and buff  coloured .  

[CMunzel]

It’s a privilege to have the little Merlin living in your area then. I’ve read about the reduction of various raptor species in the UK and the efforts, with some success, to protect them and increase their numbers. It would be wonderful if the one you have photographed could find a mate and breed. 

[Ryewolf]

Great shots Polly, I don't think I've every seen one.

[Paul]

She is lovely Polly.

Paul.

[Clicker]

She is indeed Paul …  it feels a privilege to have caught her … hopefully she will appear again … 

 

[Fogey]

And therein lies the problem with this country.  Us ancient old farts witnessed, when going for a drive in the countryside of an evening, the amount of bugs that splattered on the windscreen of the car. 
Now with the widespread use of insecticides to promote the artificially pristine standard of vegetables we see in the supermarkets, the decline in insect life has had an impact on the animals and birds that preyed on them, together with the raptors that preyed on the birds.