Kestrel Information

The Kestrel is the most familiar Bird of Prey in Britain, there are approx. 50,000 pairs. They are often seen hovering at the sides of Motorways and other roads where they catch their prey in the banks. It hovers between 10 and 40 Metres from the ground where it can get a good view of its intended prey and then dives to catch it. Its main diet is small mammals voles, mice etc. It needs to have open countryside nearby.

The male is smaller than the female and a lot more colourful with a grey head and tail and red brown wings, the female is much plainer brown with dark bars and speckles. They range between 33 and 39cms long and weigh between 120 and 300g. The wings are long and pointed and they also have a long tail, when they hover these fans out.

They use nest boxes often as they do not build their own nest wood chips can be placed in the bottom of nest boxes as this stops the eggs rolling around. They lay between 3 and 6 eggs which hatch after approx 30days and the young only stay in the nest for the first month after that the parents still feed them until they are able to hunt for themselves. Some young may stay with their parents until the following breeding season. They make a distinct “Kee-kee-kee” noise.