Birdwatch: Close encounter of the memorable kind

I was visiting the RSPB’s splendid Minsmere reserve, in Suffolk, and arrived at the Bittern hide where I watched a couple of marsh harriers circling lazily in the distance.

Suddenly, much closer, a sleek little falcon swept into view, a hobby at eye level for the 20 or so birders in the hide.

It  flew backwards and forwards for about 10 minutes hawking dragonflies and showing off its narrow swept-back wings, slate grey back, white cheeks, black moustache and red ‘trousers’, the bright red feathers that the adult hobby has around its thighs and under its tail.

Then it turned and came straight towards us until it seemed that it would join us inside the hide, before flicking its wings and finally soaring upwards out of sight, a memorable encounter with a stunning bird.

Hobbies come here from southern Africa for the summer and were once confined to the heathlands of southern England.

But over the past 30 years, they have increased in numbers and expanded northwards, with a few pairs nesting in Scotland each year.

There were gatherings of 60 or 70 last summer at Lakenheath Fen, in Suffolk, and Shapwick Heath, in Somerset, while in Yorkshire, there were counts of 20 over Thorne Moors in South Yorkshire on June 20 and July 3, probably record counts for the county, says Bryan Wainwright who collates records for the area.

It seems likely that these numbers will continue to increase but just how many pairs of hobbies now breed in Yorkshire is very hard to determine .

Hobbies are very inconspicuous and go unnoticed as they take over old corvid nests to lay their eggs.

It is only when the adults are joined by young birds, which are browner and lack the red ‘trousers’, in August, that there is any indication that breeding has taken place.

The young birds spend three to four weeks flying with their parents, gradually learning how to catch insects, then, later, birds such as young house martins, before fending entirely for themselves.

Hobbies can stay here as late as the middle of October as there are still house martins, swallows and dragonflies available for them to feed on, before leaving on the journey to southern Africa for the winter.

The weekend brought another red-necked phalarope to the county, a male which spent Sunday at the Tophill Low reserve, in East Yorkshire.

Two spoonbills were at the RSPB’s Blacktoft Sands reserve and three at the Saltholme reserve, on Teesside – a pectoral sandpiper was also seen  there.

A common crane and two black-necked grebes were seen at the Nosterfield Nature Reserve, North Yorkshire, while a great white egret was seen at the Fairburn Ings reserve, near Castleford, in the same area as the common crane seen there recently.

Honey buzzards have been showing well from the raptor viewpoint in Wykeham Forest, North Yorkshire, along with goshawks, while turtle doves have been calling nearby.

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