Is this a Merlin - Redditch (1 Viewer)

[will562]

Lucky to see a huge murmuration on my home in home town of Redditch this evening. There is a Falcon but doesn’t look big enough to be a Peregrine, and not Swift like to be a Hobby, could it be a Merlin?






I have a video but struggling to upload it.

Thanks

Will

 

[Prestdj]

sparrowhawk

 

[will562]

This clip makes me think Hobby, just doesn’t look very Sparrowhawk to me in the way it is flying

View attachment IMG_5476.mov

 

[Julie50]

Might not be sparrow hawk? - but there are no hobbies in Redditch in March

 

[Evan Atkinson]

Looks very much like a peregrine to me.

 

[tconzemi]

Peregrine would be my guess too, not an accipiter

 

[will562]

Perhaps a male then so smaller to look at. Pretty sure it wasn’t a Sparrowhawk in the way it was flying.

 

[jogresh]

Another for Peregrine

 

[will562]

Now we agree for a falcon, what is the possibility of a Merlin? My initial thought was it looked small.

 

[Butty]

Judging the size (as such) of a lone bird is notoriously unreliable. But this flies like a large falcon, not a small one.

 

[will562]

View attachment trim.1171D3BA-BD10-46D0-A067-93BE95C8B255.MOV

Here’s some of the murmuration, my car got covered in bird poo!