Can anyone ID this bird of prey in the garden?

[GlitteryFluff]

I'm sorry for the terrible quality photos.

I'd say it was slightly bigger than a pigeon but not as rounded.
In Essex.
Stripes on underside tail.
I thought hobby but they are smaller I think?
Is it a sparrow hawk? Too small for a goshawk?

Anyone know for sure?

Just curious.
Thanks.

Oops.

Did you take the photo with a potato? 😂
From what I can see I'd say sparrowhawk. Especially if hanging around a feeder. It's like a buffet for them

😆where is da bird @GlitteryFluff is I blind 🌻

I did say they were bad! 🤣
These are zoomed in screen shots from a video, but the video is just as bad

No picture OP! From your description it sounds as though it may possibly be a female sparrowhawk (Accipter nisus), the females (often referred to as a 'Spar) are larger than males ('Muskets'), being about the size of a dove or feral pigeon, in adulthood

Here!

Sparrowhawk.

Far too small to be a Goshawk and Hobbies are migratory summer visitors and much smaller, so unlikely to be either of these

Square end of tail rather than rounded fan shape suggests sparrowhawk.

Can others not see the pic in the 2nd post?
The one with the back of the tail?

It's a Sparrowhawk. 😃

As an aside, Merlin Bird ID app is great for this. I have become an avid bird spotter with it!

Possible @GlitteryFluff ?

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/merlin

Thank you everyone. You've all done so well despite the photos looking like they were taken on the first ever camera phone.

I ruled out Merlin as too small? Think this is bigger.

So sparrowhawk has the most votes so far. Is it going to come back and eat my little birds? ☹️

It's usually a sparrowhawk in an urban garden

Sparrowhawk, we get them round here.

Count your sparrows. If there's one missing it's a sparrowhawk.

They are incredibly powerful, I've had one powerhit a wood pigeon and both landed at my feet. The poor wood pigeon was stunned for a couple of minutes before flapping lopsidedly off. The sparrowhawk just glared at me. Beautiful, majestic but full of raw power. Don't really see them very often but we have loads of magpies and buzzards.

We have one that has been in our garden 3 times now, the first time it was eating something on the little wall around the flower border, the second time it nearly took my head off chasing a (sparrow I guess 😆) into our wegeila bush, and the third time I actually saw it flying just a little overhead of me carrying off a bird !!

You're lucky to get a pic at all, sparrowhawks move like lightning. I've caught sight of them whizzing through my garden once or twice, and one brought down a pigeon on the driveway of the neighbour opposite a couple of years ago.

I also though sparrow hawk .. or ostrich ... 🤪

Your blurry potato cam shots actually do give enough detail to ID as a Sparrowhawk - the grey colouring and the banded tail feathers are the giveaway.

The only close similarity would be a Kestrel, but they are more reddy in colour (and if not hovering over a trainline, are usually seen at close range/head level bowling through the woods in pursuit of Wood Pigeons in my experience).

The stripes on the tail say to me it's a sparrow hawk. We have one in our garden which has taken a few of our sparrows. A few weeks ago, it got one in the garden and then sat on it on the ground, jumping up and down on it! It is horrible to see, but it is nature and the hawk needs food to live.

A Blue Tit managed to escape a Sparrowhawk in our garden this week. I do worry that attracting the small birds with the bird feeders is like laying on a buffet for Sparrowhawks !

I also saw one just take a Starling down mid flight recently it was both fascinating and terrible to watch.

Sparrowhawk. Do you have a high building (like a church tower), or cliffs nearby? They are surprisingly common in urban areas where there's a suitable nesting environment. Not nesting at this time of year, obvs.