Sparrowhawks

Available for over a year

Chris Packham relives programmes from The Living World archives. Fast, furious and dashing, the eruption of a sparrowhawk after its prey - can be a heart stopping moment. This opportunistic hunter of the woodland edge, sparrowhawks are increasingly coming into our gardens attracted by a smorgasbord of birds coming to our feeders. In this programme from 1993, Jessica Holm joins renowned sparrowhawk scientist Ian Newton along with ecologist Ian Wylie in a Northamptonshire wood where the chance of glimpsing a sparrowhawk may be slim but they persevere to find evidence of this highly skilled predator. In the UK sparrowhawk populations have risen by about 150% between 1975 and 2008; although recently there has been a modest decline to a fairly stable population of about 40,000 birds. Producer Andrew Dawes.