On Sunday 15th Spetember, I launched my drone (DJI Mini Pro 3) alongside Eynsford viaduct and it was hovering for a few minutes, waiting for a train to come through. Whilst hovering I captured on camera a Peregrine Falcon approaching at speed, apply the brakes and take action to avoid the aircraft.
Peregrine Falcon, Darenth Valley, Eynsford, Kent by appyaardvark, on Flickr
I’m surprised by that TBH. Haven’t hawks got astonishingly good distance eye sight ? And given that a Mini is roughly the same size as a small rabbit or vole, I would expect them to be especially good at seeing those, though granted, they wouldn’t be expecting them in the air !
I’m curious, does the video show it is clearly avoiding action, or do you think it is aggressive or investigative behaviour, aborted at last minute once it could see this wasn’t a normal bird or anything it might expect to be up there ?
What did it do after that initial swerve - did it remain around and climb, hover or circle, or did it just fly off altogether ?
The video I posted is slowed down to half speed, so it was traveling at some rate. I didn’'t see it after I captured this tbf. It didn’t make another approach and I didn’t see it circling.
Ah ! I didn’t even see it was a video link ! Having watched it I am convinced that was targeting the craft but aborted the attack, either changing its mind at the last second, or choosing a close warning pass instead. Its claws are definitely pointing in your direction at the end, but difficult to know if that was an attack, or just what happens to them when it swings madly off to the side…
Haha, that’s even better, considering you can just about make out some movement in the far distance and it’s this fella making a beeline for my drone 
