Cruel nature

My friend and I were sitting fishing at our local lake yesterday evening, dusk was settling in and the Pipistrelle Bats were dive bombing the gnats and moths around our heads providing a little entertainment on an otherwise quiet evening session. All of a sudden there was a high pitched screeching and two objects shot past our line of vision. In that brief second as they passed we observed a Kingfisher being hunted at very high speed by a Sparrowhawk! We could hear the Sparrowhawk screeching as it sped after the poor little Kingfisher, who, despite being fast and agile, was obviously no match for the sheer startling pace of the Sparrowhawk who was no more than a foot behind, Seconds later they again blinked past our vision and if we had indeed blinked we would have missed them! Truly amazing to see these two locked in a fight to the death, whether the poor little Kingfisher got away I don't know, I hope so because they are truly beautiful birds and are the epitome of waterside birds for me. It's hard to hate the Sparrowhawk for hunting the Kingfisher, I love to see them flitting about when I'm fishing, but you cannot control nature, it is what it is, cruel, and at times brutal yet awe inspiring in it's raw beauty. A sight like that is reward enough for getting out and sitting for a few hours into darkness, despite the lack of fish. Angling isn't always about catching fish, it's often about the experience, the moment and feeling free to observe such wonders as this, something I would have missed if I had not been bothered and just stayed indoors.