BIRDWATCH AT ARUNDEL WILDFOWL AND WETLANDS TRUST
A small bird spends a lot of time looking over its shoulder, nervous, ready to flee from a predator.
Last week I saw this competition of predator versus prey close to. A friend and I were kayaking up the Arun. It was high tide and approaching dusk. As we approached the top of the Burpham loop, we saw a large number of birds swirling through the air above us.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdI knew straight away what this was, as we found it last year: a roost of young swallows. I estimate it comprised at least 4,000 birds. It is difficult to describe the experience of sitting on the water surrounded by hundreds of these very aerial birds, jostling for a position in the reeds or ripping through the air just inches away. Being in the middle of such a large flock really is something special.
Not long after I had thought that such a large flock of young birds must surely attract the attentions of a predator or two, a dark shape came flashing over the top of some tall hedgerow: a sparrowhawk trying to ambush one of the swallows.
Now if you were a young swallow, hawking a few insects before bed and cruising around, looking for the best reed to roost on for the night, what would you do when, out of nowhere, the bright eyes of a sparrowhawk are suddenly on you?
Your choices can be simplified to four options: climb, dive, outrun your pursuer in a straight chase or outmanoeuvre with quick turns.