Painting a kestrel in flight

Remember the kestrel chicks I was watching via nest cam? Well they have now all fledged successfully and are coming into the garden daily to feed.

I tie mice or day-old chicks (a by-product of the egg industry) to this branch in the garden and then sit back and watch as the adult kestrels bring their chicks in for dinner.

The chicks are great fun to watch - and lately there has been some extra drama as they have been trying to pinch food from a family of stoats that I also feed in the garden.

So far the stoats have had the upper hand.

The habit of feeding kestrels from this specially adapted bird table all began with this male kestrel (pictured above). I've been feeding him here since 2006  and this year  he and his mate nested near the garden where I was able to train a webcam on the nest.

He has made a great painting model.

I've been particularly keen this year to get a painting of a kestrel in flight. In the picture above the chick is trying to balance,but I think my sketch below captures the action.