CSI: Shipley

Last week, while taking the previous shots at Northcliffe, I discovered a body.

This unfortunate Woodpigeon had left a trail of feathers from a path some 15 metres away and had ended up, very much dead, under the light cover of a young tree. The body showed no marks other than a little blood around the bill.

I could tell it was a recent kill from the condition of the feathers, which still allowed water to bead on their surface. I concluded that it must be a fox kill from earlier in the morning and that the fox would come back that evening for its meal. Northcliffe gets busy during the day at weekends and a fox would be easily disturbed. Elimentary, my dear reader!

That evening, me and my partner (that's the girl I live with, not the rookie replacement for the fine collegue shot in the line of duty) returned to the crime scene to stake it out. They say that the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime! As it got pitch dark and cold with nothing to report, we returned home. It was just as well we didn't make a night of it with pizza and doughnuts as the pigeon was untouched the next day. Strange!

Yesterday, I donned my grubbiest raincoat (it was chucking it down - see below) and with basset hound in tow, I lit a cigar and went to see if anything had become of the pigeon corpse. This is what I saw.

Holy decapitation! It is clear that the Woodie's head has been taken and there is evidence of plucking on the bird's neck and shoulders. The deterioration in the condition of the feathers over the course of a week is obvious.

In retrospect, I now think that this is the grisly work of a female Sparrowhawk. Here's why:

1. I know that Sparrowhawks are present in the woods, I saw my first there a few weeks ago.


2. I have seen Sparrowhawks move prey short distances to consume them before. Early this year I watched a Sparrowhawk take a Golden Plover. When it noticed me, it hopped away with its kill and was nowhere to be seen when I got closer to the site. Johan Lind's website has some excellent footage of this type of behaviour here.


3. A fox would probably have caused more damage to the bird in taking it and, although they sometimes cache prey to eat later, a fox would probably make a better job of hiding it, further from the site of the kill, even taking it back to its den.


4. A Woodpigeon is large prey for a Sparrowhawk, though a female, being the larger sex wouldn't struggle.

Just one more thing...

It was Preben Bang and Preben Dahlstrom's great book "Animal Tracks and Signs" which clinched it. They say of birds of prey in general and Sparrowhawks in particular - "it usually tears the head off first and eats the brain ... next it begins to pluck the kill" ... "The prey is brought to a partially hidden spot ... the female, somewhat larger than the male, can catch birds as big as pigeons".

Book 'em, Danno!


I told you the weather was bad. This stream is usually no more than a trickle.