Latin name - Falco tinnunculus

The bird of prey most often seen by everyone as it hunts, hovering beside main roads, fields, moorland and heath avoiding only areas of dense forests preferring open rough ground. This habit of hovering means they are one of the easiest falcons to spot. Whilst hovering they have the extraordinary ability to keep their head totally still allowing them to pinpoint and catch small mammals by sight alone. The male bird has black-spotted chestnut brown upper-parts, a blue-grey head, a blue-grey tail with a single black bar and buff coloured under-parts with black spots. The female is danker in colour with black barring on its upper-parts, wings and along the length of the tail, and the under-parts have black streaking rather than black spots. Young birds are similar to the female in appearance. They feed on small mammals (specially voles), insects, worms and small birds which they will take in flight.