Sir – Five kestrels are nesting on our house adjacent to open fields. We have noisy children and cars and a cat. The young birds are not scared of me but I always look away when the dad and mum go into the box otherwise they wait for me to go.

We are doing our best to protect them from the crows who gang bomb from all directions whenever a young kestrel is alone or attempting to fly.

The parent birds see me shooing crows and clapping at the magpies while the young kestrels sit on the fence 15 feet away watching.

We bought them some extra mice yesterday and my husband threw them straight into the box.

Worried about interfering, but with the crows here I cannot see how the parents will get enough food to them especially in this wet weather.

They took their first precarious flights yesterday. One bird fell off the roof twice and crash-landed. He got left behind by the others for three hours.

They come out of their box when I go and talk to them and last night one brought his “gift mouse” out of the box and ate it in front of us. A very special moment indeed!

Deborah Mackin, Farmoor