Several years ago I erected some posts around the site in the forlorn hope that they would be used for perch-hunting by kestrels. In fact they prefer to sit on the electrlcity cables that run along our northern boundary.
A bird will sit for a few minutes and then do a circuit of the site, hovering every few metres until it either catches something or simply flies back to its favorite spot on the cable.
Recently, I have noticed that someone has been knocking over one of my woodpiles. Approaching this crime scene I caught the culprit red-handed (feathered actually: as it was a Kestrel).
It seems that he (it looked like a male) has taken to the habit of sitting on the woodpile and watching a nearby pond. Whenever something ventures out for a drink he swoops; in the process scattering wood onto the ground below.
I saw him again on several occasions yesterday, apparently timing his visits to co-incide with the active periods of the local vole population.
We are now (winter 2008) getting regular visits from a pair of Kestrels.
First sighting - 2001
highest annual counts
2001 - 1
2002 - 0
2003 - 3
2004 - 1
2005 - 2
2006 - 0
2007 - 2
2008 - 2