Fishlake Hobbies (revised)

On a whim, at lunchtime I jumped in the car as the sun was sort of shining, and went to try a different viewpoint over Fishlake to see if I could get a better look at the Hobbies. It was a good whim. Although the view was limited by trees and reeds, I did once or twice get 6 in the air at once hawking over the pool and picking off whatever insects they were finding tasty. There may have been more than 6, but that was my best count. (UPDATE: a count of 15 recorded that evening!) I shot back home for my camera (and my son and his girlfriend) and returned to thankfully find them still there. We didn't have long and trying to get really good shots given the limited view was challenging to say the least (largely due to a frequently confused autofocus).

In four of the last five photos it can be seen that Hobbies nearly always catch and eat their prey on the wing, often dragonflies, sometimes smaller insects as in this case, and occasionally small birds. They never eat brocolli or highly coloured vegetables and yet seem to remain robustly healthy. I am going to come back as a Hobby in my next life, or I would do if they ate cheese.

Fishlake Hobbies, Swifts, Buzzards and the like

Although it was a rather unimpressive overcast day, I decided to disappear off to Fishlake Meadows at lunchtime for a poke around, in hope of finding a passage Hobby or two and getting a half decent photo. I succeeded in only one of these ambitions, but had an interesting couple of hours nevertheless. Firstly I found not one but two Grasshopper Warblers reeling away quite happily, and secondly there was a large fall of Swifts which filled the air around the main pool. Although lunchtime is not the best time for birdsong, my slow walk was interrupted by 6 Cettis Warblers, 4 Blackcaps, 1 Garden Warbler, around 20 Sedge Warblers, 4 Whitethroats, just 1 Reed Warbler, 2 Cuckoos, 5 Chiffchaffs, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker and all manner of the usual fare.
On my way round the back I found this cock Pheasant whose slightly odd colouration with its silver back and tail is typical of this particular area

Back to the Hobbies. Well yes they were there alright, I counted 4 chasing insects over the main pool and putting on a great show. Unfortunately, I wasn't over the main pool at the time but about a quarter of a mile away. However, quite suddenly, two of them decided to come towards me as it turned out to chase off a cuckoo in a tree a few hundred yards away which wisely moved to more cover.

One of these fast and very agile Falcons gave me a fleeting closer view as it twisted in my direction as if to check me out me while I panicked and waved my lens in its general direction hoping for some luck. Not brilliant, but my best to date.

The sky over the main pool was full of Swifts, which although impossible to count, but probably numbered around 100 so I decided to head back and try and get closer views of the Hobbies and admire the aerial display going on.
The main pool is difficult to view except from a few difficult to get to spots, one of which I struggled to and settled down to watch. On the water were mostly pairs of Pochard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and the inevitable Mallard. 2 Great Crested Grebe were also present, together with six Greylags, a couple of Canada geese, Coots, Grey Heron, and a sizeable and flighty gull flock comprising (mostly) of Herring Gull, with the odd Lesser Black-backed thrown in.

The Hobbies however had disappeared although a Sparrowhawk floated over causing a little consternation among the Swifts

While I sat and waited, I passed the time trying photograph Swifts, no easy task with a weighty 400mm lens, and I took plenty of images of the sky whilst the lens worked overtime doing its best to focus on these ridiculously manouverable and speedy birds.
Every now and again a single Hobby would briefly appear, but they seemed to have lost interest in feeding on the whole, but I managed to grab a couple of shots

A flash of white amongst the Swifts immediately had me thinking Alpine Swift, but turned out to be a solitarity Swallow when I relocated it amongst the swarm of mesmerising aerial activity

The stars of the sky this day were undoubtedly the Swifts and I can only apologise to them for being unable to portray the spectacle they put on in any meaningful way.

Heading back with camera turned off, lens cap on, monopod folded away, I suddenly stumbled across this Buzzard in a tree quite close by, and I set up again as quickly as I could, and fortunately the bird showed some patience and waited watching me with a little suspiscion

A few moments later it took off and surprising flew towards me rather than away and gave me great views, a lovely way to end the walk. I couldn't decide which image to include, so put most of them in.

The weather from an uninformed viewpoint (and selective memories)

Many many years ago, when I thought I was a grown up at the age of 15, I was supposedly hard at work doing O levels one of which was Geography (which I hated as my Geography teacher was about 6'7" and kept an old size 15 trainer under his desk with which to administer public encouragement in his subject).
I dreaded lessons knowing that at some point I would be dragged off my chair by my hair for either giggling in class or for failing to hand in a homework.
I wasn't especially picked upon, it happened on a random basis along with his often misdirected temper. His aim with a blackboard rubber however was unerringly accurate and on occasions threatened serious injury (unlike the boss eyed Mr Hedges who threw things in a far more random fashion) and largely we sat there reasonably quiet and a little scared.
Oh Mr Bailey, what would I have done to have met you in a dark cupboard when you were old and I was strong.
I wasn't interested in the Tundra and I wasn't interested in coal mining in the Ruhr Valley, but I was interested whether to dodge the flight of the inevitable blackboard rubber to the left or to the right.
However, there were three topics that did interest me despite the preoccupation of avoiding injury: Geology (well, fossils and volcanoes to be more accurate), Cartography, and the Weather.
I could be wrong, but I seem to have a vague recollection that in the summer our predominant winds were south easterlies and in the winter they were a combination of notherlies and westerlies, and in the spring and autumn they were a muddled up combination which has become lost in the mists of time.
The winter that has just passed was to all people of my age group a "proper" winter, with snow and ice and everything, but in truth, that is just because these were the winters of our childhoods, and nowhere near the average winters of our lives. Likewise, summers aren't what they used to be, but largely because we don't remember the rainy days of junior school because they were dull days when we were even kept in at lunchtimes and had to do "drawing" when we yearned to be out playing tig (or football, or "war" whatever that was).

Anyway, having brought my certain ignorance on meteorology to bear, my point is, that despite some glorious weather this spring, it seems very odd to have had such prolonged periods of northerly winds. Maybe it isn't unusual at all, and just maybe my Geography lessons 35 years ago were the total waste of time I perceived them to be. Either way, the air is suspiciously cool.