Red-footed falcon: Rarely seen bird of prey spotted in Yorkshire as summer arrivals start
Hobbies are arriving to spend the summer here and are much more widespread than they used to be.
A much rarer vagrant might be with them, a red-footed falcon with a first-summer male seen last week flying along the banks of the River Derwent at North Duffield Carrs.
The red footed falcon and hobby are similar in size – smaller than a kestrel – and both are agile hunters chasing dragonflies over marshes, heathlands and heaths, often hovering and hawking in mid air.
Red-footed males are almost entirely slate grey with red legs unlike the hobby's black streaked white underparts and bright orange 'trousers'.
The red-footed falcon winters in the south of Africa and its normal breeding range in eastern Europe and across Asia as far east as China.
However, there are signs of an expansion into western and northern Europe mainly of younger birds, helped by increased conservation efforts such as nest boxes which they readily take to.
The major example is a thriving colony of more than 150 pairs in northern Italy while sightings are becoming more frequent in Belgium and the UK with up to nine seen in the course of a week last May at Carlton Marshes, Suffolk.
In our region another place to look for them now is on the Thorne Moors NNR where there is a good chance of finding one among groups of hobbies.
Other sightings included as female type Golden oriole at Gristhorpe, North Yorkshire and Stone curlew in a field near South Landing, Flamborough.
Waders included Temminck's stints at several sites, a pectoral sandpiper at Nosterfield NNR, and turnstones and sanderlings inland at several sites.