Everyone Needs A Hobby

20th May - Cheshire Moss 

Today I'm attempting to photograph the scarce summer migrant the Hobby, a falcon that reminds me a little of a big Swift which appears to have taken up residence on a local moss (peat bog) in Cheshire, and being close is a big bonus. The last time I'd seen a Hobby was on a twitch for a Great Reed Warbler in the Cambridgeshire fens many years ago in the interviening years my Scuba diving career limited more sightings.

It's a warm sunny day and the early morning light is directly facing the view point I'm stood on, to add to my wows there is a heat haze affecting visibility so the signs of getting some good images are not looking that great.

At some distance I can see two maybe three Hobby's hawking Dragonfly's but they never come close for any decent images, occasionally they rise high in the sky drifting across the moss disappearing out of sight over the tree tops.

It's a waiting game, to pass the time I identify the characteristic tell tail sounds of different bird species, in the wood a Wood Pecker is drumming like a hammer drill, to my right a Whitethroat is flitting about the low scrub all the time singing it's scratchy song, but you have to be vigilant as I just missed a Hobby that appeared from behind missing the shot.

I've now been on site for about four hours and all I have to show for my endeavours is one pass of a Hobby hawking, catching and eating Dragonfly's on the wing, the shots are all taken at some distance as a result are cropped, and along with the heat haze the quality isn't that good, but at least it's a record of the encounter on a fantastic sunny day.

Hobby