A quick, snappy, broad-winged, long-tailed hawk, usually seen hunting low down but sometimes soaring to great heights.

This is the main predator of small woodland birds such as tits and finches, although it is also quick to take advantage of concentrations of prey on fields, in gardens, and even on saltmarshes or other open places. It suffered particularly badly in the pesticide era of the 1960s, being completely wiped out in many places where it had been common. Changes in the pesticides used on farmland have allowed it to regain most of its lost ground, but ironically it has declined again in many places because of a reduction in numbers of prey, also thought to be caused by changes in farming methods.