The Kestrel is one of the smaller members of the Falcon family, which include the Buzzard, the Merlin and the Peregrine. It can be found throughout England near motorways, roads and busy dual carriageways hunting for food. The Kestrel, like other raptors, hunts for food mainly by using its talons.

The Kestrel is a bird of prey and a raptor with a wingspan of around eighty centimetres. It has a short neck and its short beak is hooked and powerful-looking.  The male and female Kestrel differ slightly in appearance. The male Kestrel has a grey head and a grey tail, whereas the female has a reddish brown head with black markings and a reddish brown tail with black stripes running across it. Both the male and the female have a reddish brown back with dark markings.

Kestrels sometimes hunt for food from telegraph poles, posts and overhead cables where they patiently wait for any unsuspecting prey to pass by, but usually they hunt for food in the air by hovering effortlessly with their heads held down scanning the ground. They eat voles, shrews, rabbits and also birds such as starlings, pipits and larks. Kestrels can also be seen soaring and gliding in the sky with their wings held wide open and their tails spread out like a fan.