The kestrel differs from the buzzard and red kite in two important respects. It is declining in numbers rather than increasing and the reasons for its problems are not much to do with illegal persecution.
A kestrel hovering above some grassland, looking for voles to eat, is still a familiar sight in our countryside. I remain amazed at the apparent ease with which a kestrel can hold itself still in the wind. Watch its head as it beats its wings and adjusts its tail - the head is kept as still as can be as it searches for a scurrying prey below it.
Another name for the kestrel is the windhover and that was the title chosen by Gerard Manley Hopkins for his poem where he celebrates the art and skill of the hovering bird. I find it a difficult poem but Manley Hopkins's enthusiasm for the kestrel is not in doubt.
Kestrels are popular - we chose a hovering kestrel as the emblem of the Young Ornithologists' Club which was the forerunner of our current youth membership category - Wildlife Explorers. I wore my kestrel badge with pride.
But on the web you can find Kestrel FM radio station, the Kestrel computer science institute, Kestrel wind meters, Kestrel jewellery, Kestrel dinghies, Kestrel signs and Kestrel engineering. We seem to like our kestrels and so we should.
Kestrels are declining in numbers here as in many other parts of Europe. Kestrels are at the top of the food chain (although they themselves are sometimes killed by larger raptors) and so if they are declining it is likely to mean that the whole food web below them is suffering in some way. If there are lots of kestrels then there must be lots of voles and insects for them to eat. If kestrels are declining then their food supply is likely to be declining too.
Fewer scruffy patches of rough grassland, and indeed the loss of pasture from much of eastern England, are likely to be reasons for a drop in vole populations. If we had a more diverse countryside with more mixed farming then kestrels would get a bit of a boost.
If you would like to speak up for birds of prey like the kestrel then please do sign our pledge - you'll be joining more than 110,000 others.
Tomorrow's focus will be on the sparrowhawk.