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KESTREL
(Falco tinnunculus)

Kestrels are found in a wide variety of habitats, from moor and heath, to farmland and urban areas. The only places they do not favour are dense forests, vast treeless wetlands and mountains.
They are a familiar sight, hovering beside a motorway, or other main road. They can often be seen perched on a high tree branch, or on a telephone post or wire, on the look out for prey.

Kestrels have adapted readily to man-made environments and can survive right in the centre of cities.
Kestrels have been recently declining as a result of habitat degradation due to continuing intensive management of farmland and so it is included on the Amber List.

Although the kestrel's main prey is small mammals, especially voles, the catalogue of birds taken is a lengthy one. Most observations relate to larks, pipits and finches but kestrels are capable of taking such quarry as fieldfares, turtle doves and lapwing.

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