An afternoon's walk along the Gyre and Breck Roads in Orphir raised some excitement when, rounding the corner of a wood, I spotted a raptor in the distance. Unfortunately, by the time I had raised my bins to try and ID the bird, it had disappeared, mobbed by a passing flock of gulls. Watching the general direction for 30 seconds or so, didn't produce another sighting, which probably meant one of two things: the raptor had flown low and away, out of sight behind a low hill; or it had gone to ground to avoid the gulls. Fortuitously, our route went in the direction of the sighting, so when we crested the hill, some time was spent scanning fence posts for perched birds. This drew a blank, but my attention was called to an area of white in an adjacent field, which wasn't as I'd thought a patch of snow, but the feathers from a Common Gull. In the middle of this 'snowstorm' was a female Peregrine falcon. She had obviously stooped into the gull flock and taken one of the birds by surprise.
We watched her for ages, as the light faded, devouring her meal. Even the approach of a couple of wily Hooded Crows didn't put her off, the corvids deciding that they didn't want to become dessert.
The Peregrine was about 100m away, a real test for my little point and shoot camera, but to be afforded such long and wonderful views of an apex predator going about its day was a real privilege.
Comments
Post a Comment