{"id":20993,"date":"2022-10-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=20993"},"modified":"2022-10-21T12:01:14","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T10:01:14","slug":"magical-merlins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2022\/10\/20\/magical-merlins\/","title":{"rendered":"Magical merlins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A rare chance to spot the UK\u2019s tiniest bird of prey <\/p>\n\n

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Merlins roost in reedbeds, bogs and on heaths in the winter <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
<\/div>
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\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Chris Packham presents the merlin on Tweet <\/em>of <\/em>the <\/em>Day <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

MERLINS ARE SCARCE AND MERCURIAL birds. You can\u2019t really predict when you\u2019ll see one of these quicksilver falcons: they simply appear, often giving only a fleeting glimpse before vanishing into the distance. <\/p>\n\n

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 \u2013 anywhere with few trees and a wide horizon. <\/p>\n\n

Merlins are the tiniest birds of prey in Britain and Ireland \u2013 kestrels are around a third larger, with a longer tail \u2013 but nonetheless pack a punch. <\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n

Naturally, given their modest size, these pocket rockets go after small quarry, mostly pipits, larks, finches and buntings.<\/p>\n\n

Ben Hoare<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Photo: MERLIN: OLIVER SMART<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rare chance to spot the UK\u2019s tiniest bird of prey <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":21379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"12","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"12","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_12-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_12-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"November-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"November-2022","purple_external_id":"November-2022-12-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"November-2022-12-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000087237||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000087237||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.497","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.497","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.497","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.497","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"58d61955-0ac4-406c-83f1-ab6f21d86b70","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-10-20T08:56:25Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"9fce08e2-feed-4e1a-b3c2-3fa322db0e15","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-10-21T10:01:19Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAw==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/An84I4v7tThqzwj-jItsOFQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\""},"categories":[25],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/merlin_20S3859_oliver-smart_cmyk.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/merlin_20S3859_oliver-smart_cmyk.jpg",2506,2188,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/merlin_20S3859_oliver-smart_cmyk-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/merlin_20S3859_oliver-smart_cmyk-300x262.jpg",300,262,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/merlin_20S3859_oliver-smart_cmyk-768x671.jpg",768,671,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/merlin_20S3859_oliver-smart_cmyk-1024x894.jpg",800,698,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/merlin_20S3859_oliver-smart_cmyk-1536x1341.jpg",1536,1341,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/merlin_20S3859_oliver-smart_cmyk-2048x1788.jpg",2048,1788,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A rare chance to spot the UK\u2019s tiniest bird of prey","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20993"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21693,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20993\/revisions\/21693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}