Bull of the Bog: Time with Kes

Over the past year or two I have spent a lot of time with Kestrels, initially by accident and then by design. Lockdown started it all, enforced localness meant a concentration on the birds to be found in the lanes and farmland that I could walk to from home. I soon learnt where the good spots were to watch the resident Kestrels and take photos. I found myself going back to these spots in the hope that a Kestrel would be perched up within camera range perhaps doing something interesting like dismembering a small bird or rodent.

Just over a year ago I changed by old Canon DSLR and lenses for a new lighter Olympus camera system and found myself more often with a camera and telephoto lens hanging off my shoulder ready to be pointed at the local wildlife. This opportunistic approach yielded some nice results and meant that walks which from a Norfolk birding perspective might have seemed a bit quiet became richly rewarding when one of the resident birds performed for me.

Taking these pictures and spending a little time with these birds also reminded me of just how smart they are, the males in particular have the most wonderfully intricate plumage with yellow beaks and feet set off against a slate blue head, a speckled chest, a rufous brown back. Their ability whilst buffeted by the wind to hold their heads still as if mounted on a gyroscope as the intently stare at the ground for prey is both impressive and a little scary if you think what it must be like as a small mammal to have one of these top predators hunting nearby.

Kestrels also represent a sense of continuity in my birding life, growing up in north London and cutting my birding teeth in the capitals parks and open spaces, Kestrels were the first bird of prey that I became familiar with. This was a time when to see a Sparrowhawk was an occasional treat both because they were much scarcer then and also because I hadn't developed the birding skills to easily pick them out as they sped by. As for the raptors that I see on a daily basis now in north Norfolk, Marsh Harriers, Buzzards and Red Kites were the birds of my dreams and very occasional treats on local RSPB group coach trips to birding hot spots. Yet now I am more likely to see one of these three species on a casual walk or drive than I am a Kestrel locally.

As Covid restrictions eased I enjoyed the ability to travel a little further afield to some of the birding hot spots close to home: Titchwell, Holkham and Holme. But still I have found myself revisiting my local Kestrel territories camera in hand hoping to snatch some more candid snaps of these enigmatic little raptors.