Kestrels

This lovely little bird of prey is a Kestrel - this was shot at an animal rescue centre in the UK, late last week.

There are about 46,000 breeding pairs in the UK.

You can see them - in the UK - hovering beside a roadside verge. Numbers of kestrels declined in the 1970s, probably as a result of changes in farming and so it is included on the Amber List. They have adapted readily to man-made environments and can survive right in the centre of cities.

They eat small mammals and birds, worms and insects.