The Common Kestrel

It is not many years since most journeys along the UK’s motorway system involved at least one sighting of a small chestnut-coloured bird hanging motionless about the road verges. The bird was the Common Kestrel, its ‘hovering’, now officially called ‘flight-hunting’ to distinguish it from the true hovering of hummingbirds, being a characteristic that separated from the other raptors (birds of prey) that breed in the British Isles.

But times change. The management of motorway verges have made them less attractive as hunting grounds and, more importantly, the population of Kestrels has sharply declined, a decline which continues as the intensification of agriculture and the populations of other raptors increases. The Common Kestrel investigates that decline, after first exploring all aspects of the Kestrels’ life, from plumage and diet through breeding to survival. Data for this investigation were collected from across the Kestrel’s range, but also includes a four-year study in which video cameras were installed to watch breeding behaviour in a barn in southern England. A further study also investigated the flight of the falcons using the modern technology of inertial measurement units and hi-speed photography. Allied to excellent photography, the result is a comprehensive book on this most fascinating of small raptors.