I’m settling down for bed last night, and my Mum calls down the stairs to come quickly— and quietly— and FAST! in a tone of voice that says, “You won’t believe this!" 

I huff, assume one of the cats is doing something cute, and go upstairs.

Turns out she went into her bathroom to find this fluffball asleep on her make-up, head tucked under wing. Completely unfazed as we turned the light on, and got cameras, and realised we didn’t have to whisper.

We left it alone for a bit, but couldn’t resist another peek before bed, when it finally perked up to give us a wary look before ungainly flopping back out the window.

I’ve seen kestrels here from a distance before, and Mum checked on the RSPB website and reckons it’s a juvenile— who picked a fairly novel place to get some shut-eye. I hope it was okay after it flew off into the dark, and we didn’t disturb it too much. The plan was to leave it till morning, and if it was still there, call someone with experience to help it. 

It’s a one-up from cutting indignant starlings from blueberry nets or getting sparrows out the log-burning stove after they’ve flown down the chimney, and served to remind me just how much I love living in the countryside. (Although these guys have adapted well to urban sprawl according to the RSPB website.)