Lady Merlin

The garden has a new patron, and there she sits, mistress of all she surveys and a force to be reckoned with, a fierce and hungry force.

The feeders in the garden behind the little blue house in the village have been mostly quiet for days; not a sparrow or a chickadee or a nuthatch to be seen most of the time. The old trees sway in the summer wind, but they are seldom graced by a feather, a beak or a wing - there has been much scampering about and rustling in the hedgerow, but the birds have been staying out of sight until an hour or so before sunset.

As it has turned out, their quiet and caution are warranted. This young falcon, a female Merlin (Falco columbarius), has taken to hunting in our garden, and she perches in a tree there for hours at a time. Her speed is astonishing, and her ferocity and agility in the air are really something to see. On the attack, she is a blur in the clear blue air.

There have been tales in the village of a successful nesting of these beautiful falcons in our park, and the tales are true. Wonder of wonders, we have a falcon in our midst, and she is a beauty.