Peregrine and Snowdrops

No, this is not the title of my new album though I know that this will be disappointing for many fans. I digress. We went to Attingham Park today to experience the famed Snowdrop Walk. As we approached the car park we happened upon a Peregrine Falcon that was busy dining on what turned out to be a Jackdaw - of which there is a large colony in the grounds of the stately home. The raptor took off once it had been rumbled and flew into a tree some two hundred yards from the roadside and I hid behind a small tree hoping that dinner had been left behind and that the king of the falcons would return. No chance. The Peregrine scrutinised me from a safe distance perched in an Oak tree and then flew off. I wondered whether it was one of the pair which nested on the cliff face at Forest Glen car park or a vagrant just passing through ? Anyway, the evidence is below with the plucking area and a massively cropped photo of the raptor.

The Snowdrops at Attingham are always spectacular but the lack of any winter rainfall has affected the numbers. However they are always a delight and the first sign that winter is in retreat and that life is returning to the countryside.