6.Kitchen sink drama

There have been times when, as a scene unfolds, I find it difficult to believe that what I’m watching is not being stage-managed. Yet these dramas are often played out in the most mundane of circumstances. I shall never forget one particular drama that was acted out as I was washing the dishes during the particularly cold winter of 2009-10: a kitchen sink drama if ever there was one.

As is so often the case, it started with a glimpse of movement. This time it was directly beneath the window, and once again my first guess, that it was a bird ducking underneath the gate, was wrong. I leant forward to see what had distracted me from my chores (it doesn’t take very much) and was quite surprised to see that it was a stoat, struggling to make its way out of the drive towards the bridge. The reason for its exertions soon became shockingly clear. To the right of its head, which it was holding impossibly high, I could now see the wings of a small bird, probably a chaffinch, still flapping desperately as it tried to escape.

The stoat struggled on past the brambles on the river bank, and then lifted its front legs and its struggling captive onto the low wall that runs alongside the bridge. I knew it would be impossible to rescue the bird, even if that had been the correct course of action, neither did I have time to reach for my camera, so I shifted my position and watched, fascinated and horrified.

What happened next took my breath away. Without warning, a male sparrow hawk, obviously attracted by the flapping of wings, dropped from above and covered the stoat with its own outstretched wings. The sparrow hawk, a regular visitor to the garden, took off again within seconds, its talons empty, and the stoat disappeared into the cover of the brambles. One nil to the stoat.

The whole episode had lasted no more than ten seconds, but what an experience! How many hours, days, or even years, would I have to sit with a camera to capture such a sequence of events? The lesson, of course, is ‘be vigilant’. Anyone interested in wildlife can be a witness to such dramas, as long as your eyes are open, and not glued to the television or your ‘phone.