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Have you had a good year for Hobbies ? (1 Viewer)

senatore

senatore

Well-known member
A juvenile Hobby has been putting on some spectacular flying displays the last week or two at my local patch ( Marsh Lane in the West Midlands) and I wonder if anyone else has been lucky.

It's hard to believe that this dazzling flyer was only a few weeks ago an egg in a nest.

It's great fun trying to get some decent shots.

Max
 

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No to be honest,numbers in the new forest have plummeted for at the last 3yrs they've been going down.No studies have as yet been conducted into the reason,although theories have been put forwards ie the number of goshawk & increased visitor pressure.

Cheers.

Steve.
 
Seen one this year - which is just slightly above my average. They're still a rarity in Northumbs, but do appear to be increasing slowly.
 
Cheers all.

It looks like I've been very lucky this year at my local patch with Hobbies.The juvenile was performing very well again Friday afternoon.

More shots of this juvenile on the links below.

Max
 
Although the New Forest pairs are down in Hampshire, breeding pairs have increased elsewhere, thoughout the Meon Valley from Whiteley northwards, along the Sussex/Hampshire border from Idsworth to Woolbeding and beyond to Fernhurst and Petworth.
 
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Didn't have a breeding pair on my local patch in west London this year, but had some amazing views of juveniles feeding close on the Pen Ponds in Richmond Park. Generally seem to be fewer this year.
 
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It's been a great year for hobbies for me. My guitar playing has moved on in leaps and bounds and I returned to bird-watching after a 45-year break. I last (knowingly) saw a hobby in 1969. This year I saw two while on a birding/nature watching holiday in Northumberland last month.
 
A 45 year break!
I guess you will have noticed a few differences since then-fancy cameras,internet bird sighting reports,spotting scopes,habitats and birds which have disappeared.I would like to go back in a time machine and witnessed bird watching 45 years ago.
 
I thought I saw one on my local patch in Germany, but it was a Peregrine. I saw 6 in Bulgaria though, but still none on my local patch where the are sighted quite regularly.
 
pratincol said:
A 45 year break!
I guess you will have noticed a few differences since then-fancy cameras,internet bird sighting reports,spotting scopes,habitats and birds which have disappeared.I would like to go back in a time machine and witnessed bird watching 45 years ago.
Click to expand...

Yes it's changed dramatically. It was still called bird-watching (not birding) then and I was using a pair of Japanese Greenkat 8x30 binoculars that boasted coated optics (I still have them, although I use a much better modern pair of 8x42s). No spotting scopes (at least in the group I regularly went out with) so identifying waders could be frustrating. Funnily enough it's one of the commonest birds of my youth I miss most - house sparrows seem almost a rarity even in one of the greener parts of London.
 
ProwlingBoy said:
Yes it's changed dramatically. It was still called bird-watching (not birding) then and I was using a pair of Japanese Greenkat 8x30 binoculars that boasted coated optics (I still have them, although I use a much better modern pair of 8x42s). No spotting scopes (at least in the group I regularly went out with) so identifying waders could be frustrating. Funnily enough it's one of the commonest birds of my youth I miss most - house sparrows seem almost a rarity even in one of the greener parts of London.
Click to expand...

Welcome back!
What sort of guitar are you learning by the way.
Funnily enough after 45 years of playing the guitar I have given it up!
 
pratincol said:
Welcome back!
What sort of guitar are you learning by the way.
Funnily enough after 45 years of playing the guitar I have given it up!
Click to expand...

We're drifting seriously off-topic now. But Blues-Rock, Blues is my immediate aim. In my dreams it would be the jazzier end of that, but I doubt I'll ever be that proficient - too little, too late.
 
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Very nice picture Senatore.
RSPB Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath in Somerset is a really good place to spot hobbies, this summer I must of seen at least 10 there, including one hunting Swifts! :)
 
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