Now You See It; Now You Don't

The other morning I woke up to find that Moo, our cat, had been out mousing at dawn and had left the rear half of a largish mouse on the roof. Quite used to this, I vowed to deal with it after breakfast.

Coming out again later, dressed and ready with miniature body bag for the mutilated rodent, I found that it had disappeared.

I inquired to the first mate if either of the cats had gone out on deck again - nope - still inside, curled up asleep.

Slightly mystified and wondering if a large carrion bird like a magpie or crow could fly away with half a mouse suspended beneath them, I absently gazed out of the window and saw a female Sparrowhawk like the one shown in this illustration, about 10 yards away, gazing back at me.

Apparently, they like easy kills.

Mystery solved.