Shorty, Barnie & Hobby

 Bootiful down them marshes me dear

 Short-eared Owl in the R.Yare valley.

 Hobby blast along behind the owl

dot of a Hobby LHS below fencing

Barnie didn't appear till the light was going - one of the Hobbies shot past me 10' away & headed straight at the Barnie who dipped a wing to take evasive action..

Lots of Tawnies , Littles & Barnies down in Norfolk

- some of the areas look perfect for Long-eared.....will have to come back earlier next year

Castle Lake - Hobby again / another new Leo pr confirmed

No birding today - got finished work & all the late nights / early mornings have caught up at once . . .

Feel like death warmed through - couldnt even summon up the energy for a drive by prowl
(although had a couple of hours with Doctor Spock & his X-ray ears last night , where we confirmed one of his new pairs of Leos as having bred succefully !! )


Cheered up no end by Bob.F's cracking image of this sub adult Hobby

It was on show for 2 hours from the comfort of the DBC hide at Castle Lake

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found this one before we started cutting & worked around it.


Planning on the Crimdon Dotterel tomorrow morning, then heading over for Hobby for Lunch

Hobbies / Castle Lake DBC nature reserve

In Durham terms a remarkable afternoon for Hobbies

1 - 3 birds on view pretty much constantly from noon till 4pm

mostly in area to the South East of Castle Lake
one raptor enthusiast had 3 birds together from the comfort of the DBC hide ! - another of our dreams seemingly slowly becomming a reality !



Close views of birds coming in low repeatedly taking insects at Allans Pool

I watched one catch a large blue dragonfly, before it swing round eating its catch right in front of me.

Close by at Fishburn Lake,  the excitement continued when a sub adult bird performed its aerobatics around the pool for an hour.

both these pool had very large nos of damselflys in todays warm conditions.


After a good crop of sightings over the years, especially so this year, will hopefully lead to this location being one where local birders can watch these superb flyers on a regular basis.
( There was another which was likely to have been a Hobby, at long range over the ridge at Garmondsway NZ3433 )



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Simply stunning birds.

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Fox den

Dab & chick

Wader Bay - DBC Castle Lake reserve

roll on Spotted Crake . . .

Bfly

Or kids

Hobby food

(pleased with this one phone-scoped)

Sythe slicing up the sky

DBC's Castle Lake

Went down Bishop Middleham
hoping to find a stint or maybe a sandpiper after yestdays rain . . .

a few bits & bobs on the roadside pool
Shelduck pr with 11 young, couple of male Corn Buntings, Yellow Wags, Tree Spugs etc

parked up & had fleeting glimpse of a Spotted Flycatcher, he continued singing unseen - one which we presumed to breed closeby but never proven.


Here Hare Here
nice to see loads of these down there - dogged to death round our way.



View from hide
last years "channel" cut an arc across the grassand & is helping keep that area much wetter.
further pools & channels are planned - the landowner is a top bloke - says "aye" to almost everything.



Ringed



Little Ringed




Hobby food



Hobby (honest ;-)

Hadnt been in hide long when, when all the Starlings massed, the Swifts moved away & the Swallows alarmed . . . didnt see "it" whatever it was . . .

5 mins later "it" was back & no doubt about it !
A stunning adult Hobby cruised right past at eye-level, as it passed the hide i shot out the door to find J.Olley watching it move off southwards

The next thing to fly past were the 1 & a half hours taking us to 12:15 !

This was when it re-appeared, again an adult Hobby, picked up by Raptorman-Olley cruising high over Moto-X track.
It came in towards the lake at great speed, slowing to circle taking insects, it drifted slowly overhead - we opened the hide door to watch it taking further items over our heads, transfering them from talons to mouth.
It moved back over the lake, at times dropping at tremendous pace to take prey, without so much as a flick of its wings.
For the next 15 mins we watched it cruise & hunt about the surrounding area - at one point trying for a small bird, but concentrating mostly on small prey items.
We lost sight of it near Hardwick.

Seconds later we had the male Kestrel taking prey to a box, he deliverd it (long legged bird of sorts) only for the female to leave the nest & take the item to the ground for herself.

The next bird was a Buzzzard (John reckoned it was a male on size) being harrassed by a pr of Crows.



round over lake

Around 1 oclock it was back
Again it came close past the hide from left to right taking insects
Stalling it spyed a juvvy Starling & was on it in a shot
Just when it looked like a ready-meal the Starling clattered into the fence beneath us - the Hobby pulled up just in time allowing further superb close range views


moving off slowly over the lake, circling taking items, the Swifts staying behind it ! as it moved off over the A1 Flashes.

Certainly my best ever encounter with a Durham Hobby - a species doing well in England, but only positively confirmed as succesfully breeding as recently as last year. (thanks to The Raptorman).

Castle Lake Nature Reserve is privately owned farmland, managed by the farmers & volunteers from the County bird club- Durham Bird Club.