Its like stepping into a time machine. I have met Kate, and she is a warm, gracious individual. She cares a great deal about the quality of her books. I hope that there will be many more Julian Kestrel adventures for us to read. Those sources are unfortunately a little fuzzy about the actual behavior of these marvelous birds.
Kestrels are among the smallest of the falcons.
There are two, a species in Europe and Britain, and another species closely related in North America, Falco sparverius, also called sparrow hawk. It can only be said to protect birds because it is too small to prey on them. It's smaller than a pigeon or dove. Other falcons, being larger, do prey on birds, which they catch on the wing. Julian fits that name in another sense that matches the natural history, because they are very attractively feathered.