Ooh! Think we just had a hawk in the garden?

[Flightputsonahat]

Looked out and saw something tearing white feathers off something on the ground. It was about as big as a seagull with woolly trousers and a reddish tail - rest of it light brown, ruffly and patchy.

Some other bird sounded an alarm call and it flew off carrying a whole pigeon

Sparrowhawk?

Sounds like it could be a red kite, I think Sparrowhawks are a bit more grey. We once had a Peregrin Falcon kill a blackbird in our garden - was horrific! I heard lots of commotion and came out to see it standing in the middle of the patio. I ran back inside cos it looked quite scary! DH later found the headless body of the male blackbird . Poor lady blackbird was upset for days and kept calling out for her mate ..

Oh Thanks I will have a look in the book to see what a kite is like.
There was a poor despondent looking parent wood pigeon sitting in a nearby tree, not sure if he/she just saw it going on and knew it couldn't do anything.
Saddest thing is we found their other egg in the hedge the other day, it wasn't fertilised - think they only have two

No it's not the kite - the tail was rectangular iyswim, and stripy.

Wondered about a buzzard, but not sure what their eating habits would be ie would it land and eat or just swoop and collect supper on the go?
The falcon episode sounds terrifying, very sad isn't it as well when they lose a mate.

It could be a buzzard, they are quite speckly, and I think they are a bit smaller than a kite. How sad about the egg too ..