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The Kestrel and the WormMonday, 26th November 2001, West Yorkshire |
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IN BANK WOOD near Emley, it's time to harvest the Christmas trees. It's still a bit early for the smaller ones but they're cutting the larger ones that are used by schools.
One of my companions points out a bird in the middle of a ploughed field. With binoculars I can see that it's a Kestrel. What could it be hunting for out there so far from cover? It takes 
off and at first I think that it is carrying a small creature with a long tail. It veers around and heads for a tall broadleaved tree at the edge of the wood.
No, it's too long to be a mouse's tail, perhaps this is a tame bird that is wearing jesses?Just as it comes in to land on a high perch I realise that it has caught a large Earthworm.
Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail; 'richard@willowisland.co.uk'
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