UKC

Yesterday I went to Little Woolden Nature Reserve.  Its a load of old peat workings, managed by a Wildlife Trust.  Recently there have been 3 hobbies 'hawking' dragonflies.  I've never seen anything quite like it:  watched 3 hobbies chasing, catching and eating their prey. Their agility and speed is mind blowing, often flying to a good height (100's feet) and stooping on their prey, twisting and turning.  taking photos was a wee bit hard to say the least, but here are a few.  Their wing shape can range from almost rounded to swift like, and they often appear to be 'all wing', tail slightly shorter than kestrel.  Their tail can fan outwards....

One circling, the other in mid stoop travelling at bonkers speed.

One is eating a dragonfly.

Yellow wagtail, almost as impressive as the hobbies.

I've never seen as many different types of dragonfly type insects.  I'm no expert but must have seen 6 species:  hawkers, chasers, those big ones, damsel flies etc.

Fun fact: I was born and raised there. It was a bleak, boring black desert in the late 70s and a long, long way from the bright lights of anywhere in the early 80s. 

This is a far cry from “Birds and Other Hobbies” the working title for ghost written memoirs of Robin Askwith, George Best and countless others 

That is very, very yellow 😁

Grand. Not a bird I'd easily identify. A few weeks ago whilst driving along a particularly bleak part of Lewis a male Hen Harrier flew along the car. Such an odd looking bird, often mistaken for a gull. 

Male hen harriers are stunning looking birds. Few years back a male pallid harrier lived a month or son in the Forest if Bowland (mainly grouse moors). I never saw it, but it looked amazing (v. similar to male hen harrier).  

I’m having a deja vous  moment - did you mention this on a previous thread some while back?  A bleak place indeed, lots of good restoration work going on now. 

Probably, I always feel a bit like my childhood home is a theme park, either pony paddocks or nature reserve. We used to go and play with the old railway carts they moved the peat around in. Ee. I  an remember when this was all fields etc etc. Other fun fact. My sister is the vicar of Irlam!

“My sister is the vicar of Irlam!”

That is a cool fun fact!  
My fun fact - I’ve only been to Irlam once, to watch my son play footie, and 12 waxwings flew over!  

Thanks for the tip, just back from Little Woolden Nature Reserve. As I was walking round I was thinking "this is a wash out" because it was dull and windy and nothing interesting to be seen beyond swifts and a few gulls. No dragonflies to be seen - presumably too windy.

Got to the west side and saw a bird flying for a few seconds several hundred metres away. It landed on a bank, was an adult Hobby. And then it just stayed there looking round. Got the scope out for a closer look, tried to take some piccies with the smartphone (I have an adapter now) but with the wind and the combined magnification being 100x plus to bring it near enough, couldn't get anything decent - best is attached.

Walked "past" it getting slightly closer (off the public footpath), eventually it must have decided I was too close (still 50-100m away) and flew off to another bank much further away where it stayed until some geese disturbed it.

First Hobby I've seen since I used to birdwatch as a teenager, and then the one or two times I did see one it was somebody saying "that's a Hobby" as it flashed past, so it was nice to get a decent view even if it wasn't strutting its stuff aerially.

Bonus on the way back was a lovely view of a Yellow Wagtail, once I got past it so the light was in the right direction - so yellow. Took a bit of time to work it out because it was in the top of a tree behaving like a warbler and I'd forgotten that Yellows have the shortest tail of the wagtails.

Brilliant. Good weather for next few weeks so they should be feeding well. Good chance they are breeding nearby, so potentially even more birds when the young start flying. 
 

Check the gulls - I’ve heard that  Mediterranean Gulls land there. And marsh harrier been spotted regular. 

Just possible I saw one but I certainly wouldn't claim it. When I first saw the hobby there was a buzzard flying about but later I saw for a couple of seconds what I assumed was a buzzard flying low through the scrub - I thought "no chance it's a marsh harrier" but having seen what you've now said, I wonder.

I will be back on a more promising day

I’m late to this thread but it’s another good‘un - thanks.
I’m reassured by your comments on the speed of a hobby. A month or so ago I was belaying at Stanage Popular end and as I looked up, something like a slightly bigger swift shot over the crag. It made a beeline for Carrhead rocks, and in about 5 seconds it was beyond the road. I make that well over 100mph. Magic!

We had a nesting pair of Hobbies in our local park last summer, they had three chicks.

There is a lake so they can hunt the dragon flies.

I heard they can also catch Swifts.

Hope they return this year. 

In many areas they are mainly hunting swallows, especially over water!

A couple of years ago I watched a hobby unsuccessfully chase a house martin in the Aland islands. The agility of both birds is absolutely stunning!

CB

Looks very sinister in the first pic, a bit like some ultra modern military aircraft.

You sound like one of my friends - a person who only seems to need to step outside the house and all sorts of birds appear.

Went back again early this morning, only Hobby spotting was one that flew past (at quite a distance) west to east at about 7:30 - too early for dragonfly hunting.

But, saw the male Marsh Harrier twice - unless there are two there - both times at a distance but long enough to be sure of the id, and the second time it went quite high soaring into the distance.

Good spot on the marsh’s harrier. Off work next week so might take a look one sunny afternoon.