Pupils harassed by runaway hawk
A rare hawk has been captured after it dive-bombed pupils as they made their way into school.
The red-shouldered hawk was first spotted flying around the grounds of Oaklands Catholic School in Waterlooville last Wednesday afternoon.
Teachers expected the unusual visitor to fly away but were surprised to see it still perched on top of school buildings the following morning.
And when pupils started to come into school, the bird swooped down to within a few feet of the startled teenagers.
Taking no risks, the school told its pupils to remain in the classrooms.
It then called in a parent with falconry experience who used a dead chick to lure the bird before capturing it with a net.
It was then taken away and is soon to be reunited with its private owner.
Headteacher Matthew Quinn, who took pictures of the bird on top of the sixth form building, said: 'It caused quite a stir in school.
'We have a lot of trees either side of the buildings but it took up residence on our buildings the night before.
'We thought it would fly off but in the morning it divebombed a couple of the students who arrived early.
'We thought "this is going to be a health and safety hazard" so we kept the pupils in the buildings and got a parent in who deals with falcons.
'He lured it down and captured it within 20 minutes.
The pupils were excited but there was almost bewilderment about how it came to be there.'
Hester Phillips, from the Royal Society for Protection of Birds, said it was likely the bird has escaped from somewhere nearby.
She said: 'It's a fairly rare bird.
'People will see birds of prey in the sky but to see something like this at a school is unusual.'
'Birds of prey swoop for a number of reasons. In this case, it might have been checking out its territory or perhaps the pupils had some food.'
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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