Saw my first one yesterday.. a giant buff-tailed bumble… fabulous!
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My congregation of small garden birds, robin, bluetits, great tits, sparrows, and of late, bramblings, are daily visitors and they seem to be constantly on the alert, flitting back and forth from bird feeders to hide in thick ivy, at frequent intervals.
Glanced out the window today and saw a large bird sitting in the cherry tree just outside the window. Managed to get camera to eye to take a quick shot. A sparrowhawk?
Hunting and killing is not allowed in my garden so opened the window and clapped my hands. The speed at which it flew away was just incredible.
Claude AI tells me that sparrowhawks can accelerate from being perched to explosive speed reaching 50mph, or more, almost instantaneously. Impressive.
Within a couple of minutes the bluetits were back in the tree!
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We have a local sparrowhawk too. We have to keep a look out for it when the little birds are feeding. I found lots of white feathers on the terrace last week…
The ivy is two metres from the main bird feeder so the birds are relatively safe. The sparrowhawk is a newcomer, never seen before. Saw a buzzard once, plunging down at 45° into my garden, but it was after a rat, which it missed.
Great shot, and quite a handsome specimen, possibly juvenile, as the head markings don’t appear to be fully developed (still a bit patchy).
I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing, but I’ve decided to put bird seed out only when bad weather warrants it. Rats in my garden flourish from the sunflower seeds that get blown down to them from the gusts caused by the birds’ wings. I’ve watched them. As soon as birds arrive, the rats hear them and appear, waiting for the falling seeds.
The other reason is that I have seen 2 sparrow hawks now, new to the district, sitting in the cherry tree just outside my upstairs window.
Hopefully the rats will go elsewhere and the sparrow hawks too.
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seems reasonable to me… natural foodstuffs and foraging for them, are more beneficial to the natural world.
I agree, but what worries me is the diminishing natural food stuffs around. Insects in particular, greatly diminished by crop farming etc. I’m hoping that the protein seed support I’ve given to my little bird congregation in the cold wet months of winter will have given them a bit of a head start for the current breeding season.
Occasional seed bonuses for busy parents on cold wet spring & summer days I’m sure will help.
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I have not disagreed with your idea of helping-out in bad weather 
as it does seem reasonable to me.
Some people almost discourage birds from natural-feeding by putting stuff out willy nilly.
Saw my first orange-tip butterfly today. Actually, I saw two of them. And the small blue butterfly is still flitting around the laurel bush - that’s his favourite area !
Do you not have cats that keep the rats down?
I do have cats - this one is a big male but he just watches them as they pass by. The rats don’t take much notice of him now. Bold! But they do keep clear of him in the garden. Food in the garden is getting less and less so the rats will have to go elsewhere eventually.
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Give him his P45!
Your’e going to need a bigger cat,
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Of late he’s become in need of my lap more and more, and now my bed. I think he’s feeling a bit like me now, in need of TLC in our old age, so he’s forgiven. But he’s a bit of a lump and won’t move when I throw back the bedclothes to get out of bed!
Size doesn’t matter I’ve found. A newcomer to my workshop, a young female tame stray who has taken up residence there, is a ‘ratter’ despite her much smaller size. I have her on video somewhere carrying a mature dead rat in her mouth - she looks so sweet and innocent, as shown here on my bed - but have seen her on video prowling around relentlessly looking for them. She’s welcome to join the household but I think chaos would erupt between her and the other cats.
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If you’ve got time, please send the video of the cat with the rat. 
I saw all the photos in the BBC article and have to admit that the lynx photo deserved to win the Award. Thank you for posting Chris.
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If I can. Don’t always keep the videos. Will have to search.
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Keep her. An enthusiastic ratter is a prize indeed. Mine is a p in the a but I put up with him for that. The place is really well run for rodent control now.
I just wish he wouldn’t also go after birds when he thinks I’m not looking.
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