Juvenile

After recently saying that all of the juveniles have gone from the sites that I cover, to prove me wrong, and not for the first time, a female juvenile made an appearance on Sunday morning.
This is the site where the foster female was released so good to see that one at least was still around, she was ringed so definitely not the foster, John will know of this site as she has an orange ring.

It was quite an eventful morning watching the site from dawn, the adult Tiercel was first out, as per usual first up was clearing the local Crows, this done he settled down to hunt.

I was in luck to see him head out on the first hunt, no doubt on something as he climbed for all his worth, I tracked him with binoculars. Presently another raptor came into view, smaller and more agile than him who evaded his 2 passes quite easily; I was then able to confirm that it was a Hobby. Whether or not he was just being territorial or actually going for it is hard to say, I suspect just moving it on as he would a Crow as he is still pretty territorial. I have recorded 2 male Sparrowhawks personally before from another site and also recorded a male Kestrel so it is not stretching the imagination too much if a Hobby was taken as prey.

1st summer Hobby - not from here but Rainham RSPB

After this he disappeared and just as quickly the juvenile showed up calling, the Falcon was in view, the juvenile female then landed nearby calling for all her worth. It appears that she has inherited her father’s dislike of Crows, no sooner had she landed than she took flight again.

Half a dozen Crows came into view, these were intercepted and scattered to the four winds eventually chasing one and giving it a torrid time before returning. She then claimed the remnants of a kill and proceeded to feed, in all this time the adult female had not moved or attempted to take the prey back. No doubt the juvenile has not left entirely and the adults are still feeding her, it will be interesting to see how long she stays, or how long the adults will continue to feed her.

Juvenile - rather persistently seeing off the Crows

She has some primary damage very likely from a hunt but from observations it is not affecting her flight, I will visit the site again mid-week.

Juvenile

Primary damage but flying ok