Kestrel - a special encounter.

I was sitting quietly on a stone wall under a tree early this morning looking across a grassy meadow and enjoying a glorious morning. The sky was blue with just a few wispy clouds and a warm breeze blew. There was nobody else around - just as I like it!
Suddenly about a hundred yards away I could see a bird flying towards me, I realised it was a kestrel, a bird which has become quite scarce in the Brecon Beacons, so I was interested immediately, curious to see what would happen, usually as soon as raptors see you they veer away and fly off, but this bird kept on coming.
I got ready to focus my camera and as it approached I fired a few shots.



But on it came,

I fired some more shots.




But on it came again.

This was really unusual because Kestrels are quite spooky birds.
Then the unbelievable happened I couldn't shoot any more frames because it was too near and I just expected it to fly over the top of the tree above me and disappear, but it didn't - well not at once. Incredibly it perched fifteen feet away on a branch and just stared at me inquisitively for what seemed about twenty seconds and then it flew off.



Fortunately I had my Canon 100-500 lens with me which allowed me to zoom right out so I could frame this lovely bird. I was really surprised by this behaviour but it was a lovely experience.

Canon R6 Mk2 + Canon Rf 100-500 - Handheld.