Kestrels over Hampstead Heath

London for a long weekend. I had a free morning before meeting friends and walked up from Hampstead to the heath. Kestrels are reliable there and they didn’t disappoint — I found a male hovering almost immediately over the meadow near Parliament Hill and spent most of an hour with two birds in the air at once.

Kestrels hover in a kind of wind-stalling motion that looks like they’re attached to a wire. They’re hunting for voles and field mice in the long grass. I didn’t see either bird catch anything but I also didn’t have the right angle on most of their drops.

Beyond kestrels: a Sparrowhawk rattled through a line of hawthorns and took a Blue Tit that I hope I didn’t actually see happen. Magpies and Carrion Crows were everywhere, as they always are. Four Green Woodpeckers yaffled at each other from different trees. A single Ring-necked Parakeet screamed past. (Urban London’s parakeet story is strange and long.)

Also: a very civilized coffee at the Parliament Hill cafe at mid-morning with the camera on the table and a squirrel watching my pastry from the table leg. I did not share.

London’s green spaces are under-photographed by me. I want to come back in spring and do the rookeries at Regent’s Park.