Hobby Masterclass

23 April - A retrospective note, after lockdown - one of the highlights of the consistently fine, warm spring was the early arrival of Hobbies. They feed on insects when first here, and in sunny breezy conditions I had some of my best ever views, at Swillbrook, when an easterly wind drifted the insects, and 5 or 6 feeding Hobbies, towards the poplar trees here. The birds gave repeated close views as they fed over the pool here, so close that I could hear the snap of their bills and the whoosh of their rapid wingbeats as they acrobatically fed over my head. A memorable encounter.