What is the difference between a kestrel and a sparrowhawk

Male merlins are blue-grey above and cream with black streaks underneath. Females are grey-brown with dark streaks. One of the best places to see them is Brockholes Nature Reserve in Preston, where they spend many summer days hunting dragonflies, swallows and martins over Meadow Lake and Number One Pit. Hobbies largely hunt over wetlands but can also be seen flashing over woodlands and heathlands where there are plenty of large insects to eat.

They are about the size of a kestrel but have longer, pointier wings like a giant swift that help them perform impressive high-speed aerial acrobatics. Female and young sparrowhawks are often confused with kestrels, but the latter has completely dark eyes, while sparrowhawks all have piercing yellow or orange eyes.

Males are the most recognisable; much smaller than the females with a beautiful blue-grey back and orange-barred chest. These small birds of prey are incredible hunters that are perfectly-adapted to pursuing prey in confined spaces like dense woodland and, indeed, our own gardens.

Is there a more perfect aerial predator? Peregrine falcons are the fastest animal on the planet and are built for speed and pure grit.

In flight they are much bigger and bulkier than kestrels, with broader and more pointed wings and a shorter, stubbier tail.

Peregrines are also slate-grey rather than brown, with a white underside decorated by dark bars, a white throat and cheeks, and a black mask. They can easily exceed speeds of mph! Traditionally nesting on cliffs and crags, they have begun moving into our cities and are at home atop many skyscrapers, churches and cathedrals.

In fact, they are one of the birds of prey in Manchester city centre. Like hobbies, ospreys are migrants that fly here to spend the summer feeding and breeding before leaving again to soak up the sunshine in warmer climes over winter.

They are huge birds with a wingspan of almost six feet, are dark above and bright white below, with dark patches on their wings. Where British birds of prey are concerned marsh harriers are one of the real success stories, having bounced back from near extinction.

We now have nearly pairs in the UK with a good number either breeding, roosting or hunting on marshland and reed beds in Lancashire and Merseyside, including our own Lunt Meadows nature reserve near Maghull. Male marsh harriers are brown above and ginger underneath, with black-tipped grey wings.

Females are a gorgeous chocolate-brown with a golden-yellow throat and crown. They all cut different figures to the raptors mentioned above, with more wedge-shaped wings and a different flying style. Learn how to identify owls. A few birds of prey are a real rarity in our region. The male delivers food for his family to a site near the nest, then calls to the female kestrels are quite noisy birds in general.

She leaves the nest and retrieves the food for the nestlings. The male may cache food to aid in the delivery process once the young are growing and constantly hungry. The parents continue to feed the young for several weeks after they have fledged.

The adult American kestrel averages 12 inches long and has about a two-foot wingspan, but it weighs an average of only three to five ounces. It is truly a quarter pounder with attitude.

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Several old mines are located near this road. Gold was first discovered here in at the Yellow Aster Mine. The mines of the area have produced over one million ounces of gold. Today the gold mining activities have been replaced by tourists shopping for antiques, part-time prospectors, and off-roaders looking for food and a rest stop. Over the past 20 years they have bounced back from being critically endangered, and can now be seen all over the UK in towns and cities and mountainsides alike.

Notice how their tails are wedge shaped, and their wings are long and broad. This allows them to use thermal columns to gain height with minimal effort. Watch them as they soar high in the sky, often in groups of two or three, using their incredible eyesight to look for a meal on the ground.

Once spotted, they will often fold their wings to fly incredibly quickly to the ground. Whilst mainly brown, they have light patches on the underside of their wings, which can help to distinguish them from ravens or large crows at a glance.

Their primary wing feathers also give the appearance of long fingers. A good way to spot buzzards is to listen for their distinctive and iconic 'mew' call. The Golden Eagle. There's no mistaking this bird, down to its sheer size. As a naturalist once said; 'if you're in two minds as to whether it's a buzzard or an eagle, then it's a buzzard. Most golden eagles live in the Scottish Highlands, although there are sometimes sightings of eagles in Cumbria.

Their huge, powerful wings are perfectly adapted for flying high with minimal effort, and their eyes can spot a mountain hare from great heights. Quite often they will appear as a speck against the sky, but even then it's size can be appreciated. Closer up, you can see their massive, broad wings have long fingers to them. Their feathers are generally a dark brown, gradually building to a golden brown colour on their heads; from which they get their name. Other than size, they differ in the buzard by having a longer tail.

They'll fly with their wings in a 'V-shape' and flight from perching, or at low altitudes can seem laboured, with long, slow wing beats until they gather momentum or hit the hot air column. The white-tailed eagle, also known as the sea eagle or the 'flying barn door,' is our largest bird of prey.

They're on the red-list for endangered species, and are mainly confined to the coasts of northern Scotland. With a diet of fish and birds, they nest on the coast and are rarely seen inland. They are similar in shape to a golden eagle, but they are bigger and have a much shorter tail. The tail is white, and the head is pale. Like the golden eagle, it's hard to mistake for another bird because of it's size. Red kites have been saved from the brink of extinction, with sucessful reintroduction projects up and down the country.

They are often communal birds, and in places will gather together in great numbers to scavenge for food. Look for them circling, with their long, broad fingered wings in a v-shape.

Red kites eat mainly carrion, and will often follow farmers plowing fields to get the earth worms that are exposed. Our biggest harrier species, the Marsh Harrier has bounced back from near extinction to now having around pairs in the UK. Look for them lazily flying over reed beds as they look for a meal underneath. To identify these birds, watch out for their wing shape.

Long, broad, fingered wings, often held in a v-shape as they glide. Often, they will 'quarter' their hunting ground, which means they fly up and down the field in lines looking for birds and mammals. Female marsh harriers are a dark brown all over, but with a cream coloured head. Males look almost thrown together, with a mottled brown head, orange body, grey wings with black tips and a grey tail.

Not often seen against the sky, these birds tend to stick to a few metres above the reeds. Hen harriers inhabit upland areas during the spring and summer. During the winter they retreat to lower areas such as farmland, marshland and coastal environments. In keeping with other harriers, they have long, broad wings, but their tails are much longer than those of marsh harriers. Males are a pale grey colour, with black wingtips. Females are mottled brown, with a barred tail that gives the appearance of rings.

In the spring, look for the 'skydance,' where males perform specatluarly beautiful aerial displays by flying up high, and stooping back down low. Ordinarily they glide close to the ground, with their wings in the typical v-shape.

RSPB Raptors. Let us know if this guide has helped you, and if you have been able to spot any of the our beautiful birds of prey. Use the comment section below to tell us your thoughts and feelings, and we'll do our best to answer any identification questions you may have.