Saw a bird of prey in my garden today and am trying to work out what it is

[007agent]

I look out into the garden this morning and saw a large bird on the lawn. It had killed a dove - poor thing and was pulling out its feathers. It stayed for over half an hour pulling out feathers and eating the innards. My first thought was that it was a sparrow hawk but when I looked at a picture of one, this bird was much bigger than a sparrow hawk and had very thick legs which were a creamy colour with brown spots. The bird was mostly dark brown flecky feathers with a patch of white behind its head with a creamy hooked beak. Eventually it picked up the dove in its claws and flew into a tree. I have now found the dove back on my lawn with its head missing completely and all its body eaten away. I would be interested to know if anyone can identify this. I live in Kent

[snags]

Red Kite?

[hc4361]

http://www.rspb.org.u.../b/buzzard/index.aspx

[jomifl]

if it had yellow legs with a brownish body and wings with lighter colouring under the body and perhaps light patches on the 'wrist' of the wing then it is most likely to be a buzzard in the UK

[smurfchops]

Sparrowhawk ? Like a miniature eagle with the same hook beak

[brenda]

Think buzzard.

[Brinjal]

Sounds like a harrier hawk. Do you get harrier hawks in UK?