Kestrels tend to mate for life, but our last years chicks will not mate in their first year. They could mate in their second year if they are still alive, but on average half of the brood will be dead with in 18 months. It is rare for kestrels to live 10 years but a ringed one was known to live for 16 years.
They mainly eat voles and when I have watched them hovering and diving for prey I wondered how the bird knew prey was there. Well the silly voles leave a trail of urine as they go and as kestrels are able to see well into the ultra-violet spectrum, this enables them to track voles through grass very easily, as the wee trail reflects ultra-violet light, sending out a big beacon to the Kestrels. At the end of the trail, there is either the vole itself, or its nest.
I know from experience they will eat moles as when Bonny catches them if I can I retrieve them and leave them on a fence pole for the birds, they take them. They also catch lizards and crickets and only very occasionally small birds.
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