I had what I would describe as a rotten day today with a few nice little bits thrown in here and there to keep me sane. I went over to the shops at the end of the day to pick up some food for the rest of the week. As I was returning I got a call and was chatting away while driving through an area in central Ireland called the Curragh (where the horse racing track is) Plains. Since I started doing wildlife photography my eyes have sharpened up to notice little things.
Zooming along at (the speed limit, officer) a quick pace I see this flash of brown sitting on the fence. I park at the end of the plains and finish the call.
I knew it was a bird of prey. A small one, falcon shaped. There are no Peregrines here because a mound of clay breaks the horizons in these parts. It was not bulky enough for a Buzzard, which is a hawk. And it was too small for one of the wandering Red Kites. It was too big for a Hobby or a Merlin. That left me with one remaining option. I grabbed my binoculars from the car boot, regretting that my camera gear wasn’t there. “Ah”, I thought, “It’ll be long gone by now”.
I wandered over and scanned as I walked. I saw the little blob on the concrete fence in the distance. I moved closer, a bit at a time as I took a close look through the glasses. Eventually I found myself within 15 metres of her. She was a Kestrel, perched with her brown back to the sun, watching the cars zip by within 8 feet of her. Occasionally she’d face me, her yellow-rimmed eyes catching the light. Now I really was gutted I hadn’t got my camera with me. I sat down, just to relax. She was chilled out so why shouldn’t I be?
10 minutes of chilling with this little fantastic “wind hover” (they hover to scan for small prey beneath them) and the real world crept back in. I have a chapter to submit on Sunday and a concurrent one to complete. I stood back up and started backing away. I was a bit worried that maybe she’d been hit and stunned by a car. It was OK, she took off and flew about 50 yards away to park again on the fence.
10 minutes of chilling out with one of the wonders of nature was a nice way to cap today off.