Hobby

It was a muggy, damp and overcast when I arrived at Thursaston Shore this morning, about one hour before high water. The tide had reached the edge of the marsh and the birds were busy jostling for position – noisily so, in the case of a gross of Curlew.

There were plenty of hirundines feeding on the insects over Heswall gutter; Swallows mostly with a handful of Swifts and House Martins.

Unfortunately for these birds, a Hobby had also clocked-on to this gathering and proceeded to cause chaos as it unsuccessfully tried to catch a meal.

‘Hobby’ would also have been the name of Subbuteo had its inventor Peter Adolph’s application for such a trademark been granted. Defeated, he turned to the latin name of the Eurasian Hobby: Falco Subbuteo!

There seems to be two clusters of sightings of this elegant raptor on the Dee Estuary this year: around Inner Marsh Farm and Burton and then a little higher up the coast at Neston. Perhaps there are two pairs breeding locally this year?

Further up the beach an extremely tatty looking Kestrel was doing its best to hunt in the increasingly heavy rain, whilst simultaneously fending off a mobbing Carrion Crow.

Apart from these two falcons, there was very little else to report, despite a good two hours in the field between Sheldrake’s restaurant and the Dee Sailing Club.

Until later.