A week into the Minsmere 70 species challenge, it's time to focus on one of the star species from the list in a bit more detail. The first species of the week is the hobby.
Hobbies are small falcons, similar in size to the more familiar kestrel but slimmer and more streamlined. If you can see them well, look for their dark face mask and red trousers. They are perfectly designed hunting machines, highly attuned to catching flying insects and birds on the wing, with barely a pause. Their scythe-shaped wings give then the profile of a large swift as they twist above the reedbed in pursuit of dragonflies, damselflies or a hapless sand martin or swallow. When they first arrive in late April, one of their main food sources is the abundance of St Mark's flies, a large black fly that characteristically dangles its legs in flight. These insects are caught in the talons then eaten whilst the hobbies are still flying.
A hobby in flight by Oscar Dewhurst
Hobbies are summer visitors, spending our winters in Africa before returning to our shores from mid April. They often gather in flocks over reedbeds and heaths during May before settling down to breed in nearby woodland and almost "disappearing" for a couple of months. They then reappear in August as the young begin to fledge, before flying back south during the autumn. Therefore, the next few weeks offer an excellent opportunity to catch up with these masters of the skies.
Up to seven hobbies have been seen over the reedbed every day this week - though this is dwarfed by the impressive flocks of 50+ hobbies that can be seen at RSPB Lakenheath Fen in West Suffolk at this time of year!
Sometimes you can be lucky enough to see a hobby perched too. Photo by Oscar Dewhurst
In fact, it's been an excellent few days for sightings of birds of prey at Minsmere. Whilst I was completing my walk around the Scrape on Saturday morning, an osprey flew north over Island Mere, seen by just a few lucky visitors. Then on Sunday, our Regional Director was lucky enough to spot a ringtail (female) Montagu's harrier flying past Bittern Hide. There was also a report of a possible honey-buzzard over the visitor centre.
All of these raptors are summer visitors, so it came as a bit of a surprise to hear that a lingering white-tailed eagle was feeding on a carcass at RSPB Snape wetlands this morning. This impressive eagle has been touring Suffolk and Norfolk for several weeks, presumably trying to decide how to cross the North Sea back to Norway. I decided to have a look for it at lunchtime, but sadly it had just flown south, having tucked into the dead cormorant. Where will it turn up next?
Elsewhere at Minsmere, a black tern was seen over Island Mere this afternoon, and the Savi's warbler was still singing there this morning. A curlew sandpiper was the latest passage wader to stop off at Lucky Pool this morning, with a spoonbill on the nearby Chapel Pool. Other waders seen today included knot, grey plover, bar-tailed godwit and dunlin. The mandarin and bar-headed geese are still on the Scrape, as are 50+ Mediterranean gulls and at least two second year Caspian gulls. And, with the weather finally set to warm up this week, and the wind turning to the south, there should be more migrants and more insects to spot this week too. But will you find a hobby?