Goshawk

 

The goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) is present all the year round in upland forested areas of northern and southern Scotland and northern England. A very efficient killer, it swoops through trees to take its prey unawares, killing its prey with its powerful claws. It is often trained as a captive falcon.

Adult males and females are similar in appearance to female sparrowhawks, but are considerably larger. One difference is that, unlike the sparrowhawk, they have a whitish streak running from the eye to the ear coverts. The overall plumage is brown on top and light-coloured with darker bars underneath. Male goshawks are up to 20 inches (50 cm) in size, and the larger females up to 24 inches (60 cm).

Goshawks take larger prey than sparrowhawks, such as wood pigeons, crows, rats and hares.

The wing strokes are usually long and slow in their display flight. When hunting, goshawks fly swiftly and surely between trees.

Goshawk nests are substantial platforms of sticks, lined with green leaves or pine needles. 3 to 5 eggs are laid, usually in April or May. Incubation, almost entirely by the female, takes upwards of five weeks. The chicks are fed at first on morsels of food brought to the nest by the male but given to them by the female. As the chicks grow and demand more food, both parents provide it.

© John Welford

Mossy saxifrage

 

Mossy saxifrage (Saxifraga hypnoides) is a plant that, although it can occasionally be found growing wild in lowland sites in the United Kingdom, generally prefers hills and mountains, notably in Snowdonia, the Pennines, the Lake District and Scotland, sometimes as high as 4000 feet (1220 m) above sea-level. An alternative name is Dovedale moss, which refers to a location in the Peak District.

It can assume widely diverse forms, depending on its environment. In very moist sites it may be long and trailing, but in drier or more exposed areas it will form a wide, creeping mat. It usually grows on mountain ledges and scree, if the soil is non-acid, and on open, grassy hillsides.

Mossy saxifrage can grow to between 2 and 8 inches (5-20 cm) in height. The leafy lower shoots spread in a tangled mat, while the flowering stems carry little foliage. A notable feature is that some of its branches are barren and others fertile, carrying attractive white flowers (between May and July) in groups of 1 to 5. The flower buds are often tipped with pink. The sepals do not bend back but remain upright. When ripe, the fruits split at the top.

This is a wildflower that has also found a home as a garden plant, its creeping nature and showy, white flowers making it a popular edging plant for herbaceous borders and a fill-in plant in rockeries.

© John Welford

Montagu's harrier

 

Montagu’s harrier (Circus pygargus) is very similar in appearance to the hen harrier, and was only recognised as a separate species in 1802 by the Devon naturalist George Montagu, hence the name. The hen harrier is far more common in the United Kingdom, with Montagu’s Harrier being one of Britain’s rarest breeding birds, limited to a few pairs in southern England.

Adult male Montagu’s harriers, which are more slightly built than hen harriers, are up to 16 inches (40 cm) in length. They have black wing-bars and brown streaks on the whitish underwings and flanks. The upperparts are grey and underparts white. Females are brown above and white streaked with brown below, with a narrow white rump patch.

The flight is buoyant with the wings raised in a shallow V.

Montagu’s harriers often perch on posts that overlook grassland as they scan the ground for prey that includes insects and small mammals.

The Montagu’s harrier winters in Mediterranean regions and tropical Africa and those that nest in Great Britain arrive in April, settling down in pairs by the end of May or early June. The nest will be on the ground among vegetation in any kind of open country, including farmland and sand dunes.

The eggs are laid at intervals of up to three days with incubation beginning as soon as the first egg is laid. The young hatch at the same intervals after four weeks.

The female greets the male as he brings food for her and the hatched chicks. The prey is passed from foot to foot in midair or, if dropped by the male, will be caught by the female before it hits the ground. She will share the hunting after around three weeks. The chicks fledge at around five weeks and all the birds will fly south in September.

© John Welford