Best time to see: all year

Key facts

Common rust-coloured raptor often seen hovering over motorway verges

Habitat: fields, marshes, moors, heath, forests and towns

Common and widespread resident

Recognition

Male grey and brown with pointed wings; female brown, streaked; 38 cm

Flight very strong and powerful, hovering frequently; sits on telegraph wires and posts

Eats mainly small mammals such as voles, mice and rats, also frogs, worms and large insects, occasionally small birds

Lifecycle

Nests on a bare ledge or on top of a tree

One brood mid-April to May; 4-5 white eggs, heavily speckled brown