Secretive and usually solitary is how the RSPB field guide describes sparrow hawks. And it’s true, lurking in trees or bushes, these consummate ambush artists are usually seen when they explode along a hedge or burst down on bird tables with devastating effect. When it comes to sparrow hawk parents and their adolescent young however, such skulking behaviour is turned on its head. This year a pair nested in our neighbour’s well-wooded garden and for the past few weeks, ever since the young were old enough to leave the nest but not yet able to feed or fend for themselves, it’s been mayhem. Talk about helicopter parenting, every move the youngsters make, every foray from tree to tree, every explorative flutter, is met by deafening, high-pitched parental shrieks. From dawn t