When photographer Rob Palmer starting taking snaps of peregrine falcons while on a trip away from home he thought he would just capture images of the birds swooping around in the sky.

But when he checked back his pictures he was shocked to find that in one shot, the flock were flying in a very rude shape in the sky.

Mr Palmer, 62, is originally from Colorado but had been taking the pictures while in California.

But it was originally a mother peregrine falcon that had caught his eye and made him get his camera out.

He said: 'I was amazed when I saw the Peregrine Falcon swooping her way around the starlings. She was moving around them waiting to capture one, which she eventually did.

'But while she was hunting she managed to manoeuvre the flock into all sorts of formations while they were trying to escape her.'

A flock of peregrine falcons managed to create a rude shape while flying in formation above the skies of California

Mr Palmer from Colorado had been on a trip to California when he saw the peregrine falcons in the sky

It was originally a mother peregrine falcon that had caught the photographer's eye and made him get his camera out