John Barber
Well-known member
I wish I had gone to the Hobby site rather than watch England !!! How bad was that ?
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Hobby Thread 2010 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter halftwo
- Start date
halftwo
Wird Batcher
Breezy & Bright
08:30 - 09:30. Northerly breezes but mainly sunny.
Ripples of wind across the clover-flecked meadow: specks of foam on a ruffled sea of grasses. Warmth pooling where hedges caught it, otherwise fleeting in the northerly breezes. Bramble buds now open along the hedge where cow parsley has gone to seed.
Breeze through trees crescendos and fades to leave the sound of a Hobby in the distance: a bird returns to his mate on her snag branch, sheltering in the lee. For a while both sit close, she occasionally calling an invitation to mate, before getting up and flying to the nest.
He sits and preens before launching an attack on something hidden past the copse, circling back to her tree, calling to his mate. Twice more small arcs vanish in the wind as he flies to the nest tree and is gone.
A Brown hare lopes by, pale in the sunshine, while overhead two Curlew skim the wind westward.
08:30 - 09:30. Northerly breezes but mainly sunny.
Ripples of wind across the clover-flecked meadow: specks of foam on a ruffled sea of grasses. Warmth pooling where hedges caught it, otherwise fleeting in the northerly breezes. Bramble buds now open along the hedge where cow parsley has gone to seed.
Breeze through trees crescendos and fades to leave the sound of a Hobby in the distance: a bird returns to his mate on her snag branch, sheltering in the lee. For a while both sit close, she occasionally calling an invitation to mate, before getting up and flying to the nest.
He sits and preens before launching an attack on something hidden past the copse, circling back to her tree, calling to his mate. Twice more small arcs vanish in the wind as he flies to the nest tree and is gone.
A Brown hare lopes by, pale in the sunshine, while overhead two Curlew skim the wind westward.
John Barber
Well-known member
Missing Hobbies
08.15 - 10.45
On this lovely sunny morning the Hobby family were conspicuous by their absence. There was no sign of them anywhere.
Is the female at last on a nest ? Was the male away hunting for food ? It's certainly unusual not to see or hear at least one bird.
One things for sure, after two fruitless hours, Sid and I gave up and went home. Perhaps they'll turn up later
08.15 - 10.45
On this lovely sunny morning the Hobby family were conspicuous by their absence. There was no sign of them anywhere.
Is the female at last on a nest ? Was the male away hunting for food ? It's certainly unusual not to see or hear at least one bird.
One things for sure, after two fruitless hours, Sid and I gave up and went home. Perhaps they'll turn up later
halftwo
Wird Batcher
Yes, I'll go later for another look. Saw you both.
John Barber
Well-known member
The Cheshire Hobbies are becoming as sneaky as the Leicestershire birds
Rob Smallwood
Well-known member
Rob Smallwood
Well-known member
I'd not argue - it is the bird we watched perched up whilst I played hopscotch in the present the farmers dog left!
sid ashton
Well-known member
Female at nest ????
Arrived on site 18.00 and saw more in the first few minutes than in the last four visits (seven hours total). Just scanning this year's original possible nest tree when there was a lot of calling and the male went over my head toward the tree - the female came up and what looked like a food pass move took place - then she went back to the nest(?) and he on guard after doing a couple of circuits of the field. So let us hope that they have finally decided on the site.
Also Little Owl sitting out enjoying the warm evening sun :t:
Arrived on site 18.00 and saw more in the first few minutes than in the last four visits (seven hours total). Just scanning this year's original possible nest tree when there was a lot of calling and the male went over my head toward the tree - the female came up and what looked like a food pass move took place - then she went back to the nest(?) and he on guard after doing a couple of circuits of the field. So let us hope that they have finally decided on the site.
Also Little Owl sitting out enjoying the warm evening sun :t:
sid ashton
Well-known member
Where are they now?
No sign of either of the Hobbys between 17.45 and 19.15.
The Little Owl continues to enjoy the sunshine.
No sign of either of the Hobbys between 17.45 and 19.15.
The Little Owl continues to enjoy the sunshine.
sid ashton
Well-known member
Called past the site at 15.00 on the way back from Derbyshire where I had at last been to see the the Great Reed Warbler at Straws Bridge - found the male in the same tree as Monday.
halftwo
Wird Batcher
Hobby Takes A Swallow
07:45 - 08:45 Sunny & warm.
Windless after a breezy evening and cloudless but for a smear of cirrus up high, a Quail sings from across the wheat field: high summer.
Out along the lanes Skylarks' songs fall, soaking into the parched earth. A Yellow wagtail on a wire calls to her mate. Two Great-spotted woodpeckers chatter alarms at the Little owl, shuffling towards its half-hidden hunched form, spikey calls piercing the shady canopy, red vents ablaze on the boughs. A young Little owl, perched by the nest hole, pops back into cover; but a sudden line of movement overhead snares the senses...
A Hobby slides silently on a diagonal, half-speed and steady, heading for a telegraph wire, where Swallows are perched: crotchets on the stave. They see the danger far too late.
As the Swallows scatter the falcon picks a victim, swerves briefly, extends claw-ended legs and takes its prey deftly, continuing as the Swallow makes a last wing-flap, tucked under its killer's body.
The Hobby flies away, but detours suddenly, swerving right. It makes for a copse and calls ring clear across the morning, "kip kip". A flicker of two birds low and fast: lost in shadow and distance, then a silent pause, Swallows swarming in anger around the treetops.
A moment passes; then two Hobbies are rising quickly, one in pursuit of the other. The prey has gone, stashed or abandoned, and two falcons lift into the blue. The pursued is using every ounce of strength: wing tips meet above its body as it powers up, its pursuer keeping pace. They rise ever higher and head north.
The chase goes on and eventually their dots dwindle to dust and are simply gone - two miles distance and half a mile high.
Back on earth Yellowhammers and Whitethroats sing. A vole munches: within inches but invisible under the hedge. Swallows settle. Bees hum...
Away, from their usual spot, Hobbies call. Though they don't show the chase has concluded. Where the Swallow is is unknown.
07:45 - 08:45 Sunny & warm.
Windless after a breezy evening and cloudless but for a smear of cirrus up high, a Quail sings from across the wheat field: high summer.
Out along the lanes Skylarks' songs fall, soaking into the parched earth. A Yellow wagtail on a wire calls to her mate. Two Great-spotted woodpeckers chatter alarms at the Little owl, shuffling towards its half-hidden hunched form, spikey calls piercing the shady canopy, red vents ablaze on the boughs. A young Little owl, perched by the nest hole, pops back into cover; but a sudden line of movement overhead snares the senses...
A Hobby slides silently on a diagonal, half-speed and steady, heading for a telegraph wire, where Swallows are perched: crotchets on the stave. They see the danger far too late.
As the Swallows scatter the falcon picks a victim, swerves briefly, extends claw-ended legs and takes its prey deftly, continuing as the Swallow makes a last wing-flap, tucked under its killer's body.
The Hobby flies away, but detours suddenly, swerving right. It makes for a copse and calls ring clear across the morning, "kip kip". A flicker of two birds low and fast: lost in shadow and distance, then a silent pause, Swallows swarming in anger around the treetops.
A moment passes; then two Hobbies are rising quickly, one in pursuit of the other. The prey has gone, stashed or abandoned, and two falcons lift into the blue. The pursued is using every ounce of strength: wing tips meet above its body as it powers up, its pursuer keeping pace. They rise ever higher and head north.
The chase goes on and eventually their dots dwindle to dust and are simply gone - two miles distance and half a mile high.
Back on earth Yellowhammers and Whitethroats sing. A vole munches: within inches but invisible under the hedge. Swallows settle. Bees hum...
Away, from their usual spot, Hobbies call. Though they don't show the chase has concluded. Where the Swallow is is unknown.
Rob Smallwood
Well-known member
Hobby showed well, flying in from near pool to hunt Swallows over the farm before disappearing off.
Nearby, the Little Owl showed well, at one time sharing the tree with the Hobby before a Carrion Crow saw the Hobby off.
2 Oystercatcher overhead, a Buzzard mobbed by a Raven, and Grey Partridge in the fields made for a lovely hour and half early evening.
Nearby, the Little Owl showed well, at one time sharing the tree with the Hobby before a Carrion Crow saw the Hobby off.
2 Oystercatcher overhead, a Buzzard mobbed by a Raven, and Grey Partridge in the fields made for a lovely hour and half early evening.
Attachments
Rob Smallwood
Well-known member
I did.
Couldn't hear a thing mainly due to what sounded like a World Cup party going on down the road!
Couldn't hear a thing mainly due to what sounded like a World Cup party going on down the road!
halftwo
Wird Batcher
The Female Hunting
Another bright, if hazy, morning. For more than half a hour there were no signs of Hobbies. But the Little owls were most active: two youngsters, fluffy but full grown, hissing softly to parents as they clambered about on their nest tree.
The parents hunted and brought food, one perching right out in the early sunlight. A small swarm of passerines flitted around the tree in consternation, and a juvenile Great-spot flew in to add to the numbers.
Then, on one Swallow's alarms, morning became electric.
The female Hobby, palely grey-backed in the rising sun, but lit beautifully in her pied and red, slantly gradually upward and still low, cruised towards the Swallows over the paddock. A quick arc amongst the prey and away again, to the next farm, where more Swallows were, as yet, unaware.
Accelerating now as her prey started to swarm in panic, she made a series of loops and figure eights which took her from treetop to hedge base and back again, as Swallows darted away and followed - scores in rapid flickering terror. But they had the measure of her and, now, she began to rise.
At a hundred feet she turned west and progressed that way leisurely for a minute. She was heading for the next feeding area. At the right distance she began to put on speed: 50, 60, 80 mph...she let gravity help her velocity as she went low towards the House martin colony and disappeared in dark trees' shadows, the hirundines telling her presence above as they swirled, keeping their nemesis in sight.
Gone.
Another bright, if hazy, morning. For more than half a hour there were no signs of Hobbies. But the Little owls were most active: two youngsters, fluffy but full grown, hissing softly to parents as they clambered about on their nest tree.
The parents hunted and brought food, one perching right out in the early sunlight. A small swarm of passerines flitted around the tree in consternation, and a juvenile Great-spot flew in to add to the numbers.
Then, on one Swallow's alarms, morning became electric.
The female Hobby, palely grey-backed in the rising sun, but lit beautifully in her pied and red, slantly gradually upward and still low, cruised towards the Swallows over the paddock. A quick arc amongst the prey and away again, to the next farm, where more Swallows were, as yet, unaware.
Accelerating now as her prey started to swarm in panic, she made a series of loops and figure eights which took her from treetop to hedge base and back again, as Swallows darted away and followed - scores in rapid flickering terror. But they had the measure of her and, now, she began to rise.
At a hundred feet she turned west and progressed that way leisurely for a minute. She was heading for the next feeding area. At the right distance she began to put on speed: 50, 60, 80 mph...she let gravity help her velocity as she went low towards the House martin colony and disappeared in dark trees' shadows, the hirundines telling her presence above as they swirled, keeping their nemesis in sight.
Gone.
