Most responsible cat owners take precautions when feeding wild birds in their gardens to reduce the likelihood of their pet catching and killing the birds, and these articles often give tips about how to do this.

But small birds need to be wary of another predator in our gardens - the sparrowhawk, a bird of prey that is more commonly seen in urban gardens than any other.

When spotting a sparrowhawk predating our first impulse may be to protect the small birds by frightening off the larger one, but spare a thought for the hawk.

March and April are the months when food supplies are at their lowest, and adult sparrowhawk mortality is at its highest - about a third of adults die each year with the most common cause being starvation.

Their life expectancy is less than three years, whereas most other species of birds of prey live considerably longer.

Some people worry that sparrowhawks eat too many small birds and cause their populations to fall or even become endangered.

Emotions can cloud the fact that the scientific research points to the contrary and long-term scientific studies have shown that sparrowhawks generally have no or little impact on songbird populations.

A study conducted by the British Trust for Ornithology and funded by Songbird Survival was published in March 2010 and looked at the relationship between populations of sparrowhawk and prey species over a period of 33 years.

This study concluded that for the majority of songbird species, there is no evidence that increases in sparrowhawks are associated with songbird population declines.

It is also clear that for the majority of declining species with unfavourable conservation status, population declines are due to factors other than predation (loss of habitat being a major one).

So, a sparrowhawk stealthily hunting its prey in our back gardens might be difficult for some people to watch, especially if there is a lengthy chase amid the shrubs and bushes before the final kill, but this is the stark reality of nature.

The only things Max likes to chase are tennis balls!

He never seems to tire of them and the kennels staff and volunteers end up with ’ball throwing fatigue’!

Max is a six-year-old English bull terrier cross, and he came to us last month because his previous owner’s circumstances changed.

He has been to several training sessions and loves them, and shows that he is quick to learn and intelligent, and he thrives on stimulation and interaction with humans. He’s not so keen on other dogs, though, and he really likes to be the centre of attention.

Benji also likes to be the ’main man’, and he loves to be fussed over by everyone he meets.

He is a five-year-old chihuahua cross Tibetan terrier, who was gifted in to us because of his owner’s ill health.

He is very sweet and he’s clearly been much loved and the only time he is grumpy is when he’s being groomed, a necessity with a coat as long and fluffy as his is, and so this has to be done regularly and gently.

He’s not ’yappy’ and he’s really quite laid-back for a small dog, and given his easy-going nature we don’t expect him to stay with us for very long.

We always welcome back our rescue dogs to the kennels on visits, and many of them come and board with us when their owners go away on holiday. Both the rescue kennels and the boarding ones have underfloor heating and large runs, and dogs are exercised several times a day, and so it’s no surprise that owners come back year after year.

Some weeks in 2017 are already fully booked, and so if you know your holiday dates please call us (851672, option one for kennels) sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment.