Fierce beauty

Accipiter nisus

(for anyone who is following my food rant, I posted the conclusion here.)

The bright orange underparts give this Sparrowhawk away as being male.

They hunt our cute little garden birds but their presence means that a healthy population of their prey is present, and like most predators, they hunt the weakest and easiest to catch specimens, ensuring the healthy ones survive, while the weaker ones are dispatched swiftly and do not end up starving to death.