Bang!

The first thing we heard was a loud bang, followed a couple of seconds later by handfuls of feathers blowing into the barn, where I was standing with Richard.

At first we thought a pigeon had misjudged the door ( although it's almost big enough to drive a tractor through it ) but when I stepped over and looked out, a collard dove had been downed by a sparrowhawk.

No chance of me getting a picture as the mugger flew off as soon as I appeared. The dove staggered into the tack room, so we caught it and as I held it, Richard attended to its wounds.

There were a couple of holes, one on its head and another under its wing, and it was missing a large chunk of feathers, but I took it out to the yard and it flew off with no bother, so hopefully it will be ok.