A rare chance to spot the UK’s tiniest bird of prey
Chris Packham presents the merlin on Tweet of the Day
MERLINS ARE SCARCE AND MERCURIAL birds. You can’t really predict when you’ll see one of these quicksilver falcons: they simply appear, often giving only a fleeting glimpse before vanishing into the distance.
In winter, however, the odds of a sighting are tipped slightly in your favour. While merlins spend spring and summer in our wildest and most remote upland areas, they move lower down after breeding. This means they can now be found on heaths, saltmarshes and arable farmland – anywhere with few trees and a wide horizon.
Merlins are the tiniest birds of prey in Britain and Ireland – kestrels are around a third larger, with a longer tail – but nonetheless pack a punch.
It’s perhaps best to think of them as miniature peregrines because, like peregrines, they target birds rather than mammals and neither hover nor take prey on the ground. Their signature hunting style is a high-speed aerial pursuit, skimming low over the ground. Between hunts, they perch and scan for prey.
Naturally, given their modest size, these pocket rockets go after small quarry, mostly pipits, larks, finches and buntings.