\n Alistair Magill photographed the kestrel at Pevensey Marshes, near Chilley Farm, during a recent outing.\n<\/p>\n
\n The bird was carrying a lifeless rodent in its talons.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Magill said: “I\u2019d parked at Chilley Farm and had only taken a few paces into the first field when the kestrel flew right in front of me, prey in hand, and settled on a nearby branch.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It took a few pecks at the rodent before flying off again.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Alistair spotted the kestrel flying with a rodent it had caught (Image: Alistair Magill)\n<\/p>\n
\n Originally from London, Mr Magill moved to Saltdean three years ago to study for a master\u2019s degree in psychology at Sussex.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “I fell in love with the scenery and wildlife on my doorstep and treated myself to a good camera and lenses when I graduated.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I’ve only been photographing since September 2024, but I’m becoming increasingly serious about it. I’m having my first exhibition in Rottingdean this summer.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Kestrels are a fairly common bird of prey in the UK (Image: Alistair Magill)\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Magill said kestrels are not unusual in the area, but it was the first time he had seen one with prey.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “Kestrels aren’t super rare around here, but it’s always a treat to see one and I’d never seen one carrying prey before.\n<\/p>\n
\n “On that visit I there were also song thrushes, redwings, bullfinches, blackcaps, robins, goldfinches.\n<\/p>\n
\n “So I’ll be returning to the Pevensey Levels very soon!”\n<\/p>\n
\n Alistair says he will be returning to Pevensey Levels soon (Image: Alistair Magill)\n<\/p>\n
\n According to the Wildlife Trust, the kestrel\u00a0can be found in all kinds of habitats, from open countryside to towns and villages.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Kestrels are typically seen hovering, their pointed wings held out”, the trust said.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The familiar behaviour of the kestrel gives it one of its old country names: the ‘windhover’.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The kestrel has the ability to keep its head still while it hovers, even in strong winds, helping it to pinpoint its prey by sight.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alistair Magill photographed the kestrel at Pevensey Marshes, near Chilley Farm, during a recent outing. The bird was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-393377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}