I was working in the RSPB library this afternoon. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a slightly unusual silhouette whizz past.

Minutes later I got a phone call which I answered with library voice and snuck outside.

At the back of the house I stood under the porch, watching the dimming afternoon sky and the trees blown sideways by the wind. Something bombed past, and I assumed it was a sparrowhawk.

But when it circled back around seconds later I saw that it was much smaller than a sparrowhawk. It was a sleek, compact bird of prey that sent a flock of goldfinches scattering. It circled around over the garden a few more times, sweeping at unbelievable speeds gusted along by the wind.

It was a merlin, a bird of prey that, while it breeds in the UK, is extremely hard to see in the spring and summer. In winter birds from Iceland come to the UK and make them slightly easier to come across. I have only see them in Autumn and Winter actually.

Here’s a photo of these tiny, magic little birds (admittedly this is a shot I took in Canada).