The power of flight has evolved to become adapted in many and varied ways by every species of bird dependent upon its own individual lifestyle.

The dashing headlong hedge-top flight of the hunting sparrow hawk contrasts with the effortless soaring of eagle and buzzard.

Swifts and swallows wheel and turn at great speed in pursuit of flying insects while the skylark ascends to hover singing for minutes on end.

Perhaps the ability to hover is the most remarkable of all flying skills. Tiny hummingbirds poised before flowers beat their wings at an incredible rate using up so much energy in doing so that they need to refuel constantly.

I love to watch kestrels haunting the wide open tree-lined spaces of Richmond and Bushy parks.

Kestrels quarter the ground below before suddenly stopping in mid-flight to hang poised with heads pointing directly earthwards. However strong the breeze, they face into it and remain precisely in the same position constantly adjusting wings and tail to ensure they remain stationary thus allowing them to focus without wavering on prospective prey they may have spotted in the grass.

Then, looking as if they are being let down a little at a time on a piece of string, they descend until close to the ground they plunge, wings closed to disappear in the sward. Seconds later they reappear and if their prey is not a vole, their favourite meal, it may seem to us as if they have missed their target but grasshoppers, beetles and varied insects feature in their diet and are difficult to spot at a distance.

A truly remarkable bird and well worth watching.