wharfedale-nats.org.uk A splatter of blood and bird poo on the glass, a heap of dusky feathers on the front lawn: all there was to show that a sparrow-hawk had chased a pigeon to its death against the window, plucked and eaten it. “Nature red in tooth and claw,” as Tennyson put it. No more soaring flight for a pigeon – a welcome meal for a hawk. My generation of naturalist grew up with the Darwinian model of the natural world. Adaptability to environmental change and balance of predator and prey held things in equilibrium and drove evolution. It seemed harsh but it worked, and the...