Spacing of Sparrowhawks in Relation to Food Supply

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Abstract
(1) Within areas of continuous woodland, sparrowhawk nesting places were regularly spaced, but at different distances apart in different areas, with extremes of 0.5 km and 2.1 km. Between areas, the spacing of nesting places within suitable woodland varied according to elevation above sea level and local land fertility. This distance between nesting places increased by 0.1 km for every 20 m rise in altitude and for every 0.35 points (on a 1-10 scale) decline in soil productivity. These landscape features were probably not important as such, only through their influence on prey supply. (2) Sparrowhawk nest-spacing was also found to be related to prey abundance in early spring. In general, hawk nests were more widely spaced in areas where the numbers and biomass of prey were low in areas where they were high. This lent support to the view that sparrowhawk breeding densities in woodland were influenced by the food supply.

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