Kestrels are easily recognisable because of their ability to hover in one spot while looking for prey and a wildlife filmmaker has shared an incredible clip demonstrating just how remarkable this is.
When kestrels hover, these birds of prey barely even need to beat their wings to remain still. The bird is so still that it looks like it might be held up by an invisible string, its eyes locked on the ground below.
“How amazing is it?” says photographer Jacob Rheams on Instagram. “[I] will never get bored of watching kestrels hover and seeing how stable they can keep their heads.”
This ability to stay still helps the birds hunt. "While hovering, kestrels keep their head still and their eyes fixed on the ground, adjusting their tail and wings to hold position, before dropping down to catch a vole or other small mammal,” says the RSPB on its website.
Hovering isn’t their only skill, the RSPB adds: "They have incredible eyesight and can even see UV light, which allows them to spot the trails of wee left behind by the voles and other small mammals they eat, as these trails reflect UV light.”
Image and video credits: Jacob Rheams, @jjrheams.photography
More amazing wildlife videos from around the UK
- Mysterious 'fairy circles' filmed in Scotland for the first time
- Rare killer whale encounter stuns wildlife watchers in Northumberland
- Fierce battle between seal and enormous sea creature filmed in Dorset
- 'Godzilla' species discovered off the coast of Cornwall – and it's bigger than any found in EuropE
