Acres Down and Goshawks

The weather was cloudy with some sun. Highlights were Goshawk and Sparrowhawk.

From the car park some of us saw a Treecreeper and there were a few Coal Tits singing. However, once again, the walk itself was very quiet for birds indeed. A few Woodpigeons, Blackbirds, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Marsh Tit and a Coal Tit or two were all that we recorded. However there was still a lot of snow lying in places and the whole walk was very picturesque.
Back at the car park and we then climbed up onto Acres Down and walked to the point with the best view over the surrounding woods. Luck seemed to be with us as there was very little wind and the sun started to come out. We saw a few Jay and a couple of Meadow Pipit and Carrion Crow flew over. After half an hour a Buzzard appeared, soaring over some distant woods and then another much closer one. Then we picked up a distant Goshawk in the telescope, but it was moving fast and soon went down into the trees again so only some of us saw it. Then another (or the same) Goshawk appeared out of the trees soaring up fairly close by. We all got pretty good views of it. Before long it was joined by a Sparrowhawk that kept mobbing it, so we had a great chance to compare these two species. Sparrowhawks are sometimes confused for Goshawks, but Goshawks are much bigger and their tail is shorter and fatter at the base than the Sparrowhawks tail.
Simon Curson.