Until the farmer decided to plough them last week, the fields alongside the coastal path between Penarth and Lavernock were alive with birds, hundreds, perhaps thousands of Linnets and Goldfinches.

For those fascinated by birds, it was a feast for the eyes but for the local birds of prey, it was just a feast … or, at least, this Sparrowhawk was fervently hoping it would be a feast.

However, although I watched it for over an hour one day, flap-flap-flap-gliding effortlessly overhead and then swooping very low and very fast over the fields, I never saw it actually catch anything.

It seems the Sparrowhawk mostly went hungry and most of the little finches lived to fly another day.