Tuesday 7 July 2009

Surprise Hobby




I hadn't visited Leighton Moss. RSPB. Reserve for a long time so I  decided to spend Monday afternoon there in the hope of some decent images of Marsh Harrier. I began my quest at the Public Hide where it was fairly quiet apart from noisy groups of black headed gulls which gave me some good practice with flight shots. Whilst there I heard that a hobby was present in the vicinity of the Lower Hide so I hot footed it on the twenty minute walk to the hide. The hobby was still around but very distant perched up in a dead tree at the back of the reserve.
However it did make a number of sorties towards the hide in its pursuit of the abundant dragonflies  which were present on the reserve. It was very difficult to photograph in flight as it zipped around the reedbeds but on three or four occasions it perched up in bushes about sixty or seventy yards away. It was never near enough for quality portrait shots but I was well pleased with my efforts, the best of which are shown above. A change in the weather to windy and cloudy conditions meant the hobby didn't appear again and I called it a day and made my way back to the car. The images show my best efforts with the hobby.

4 comments:

  1. I reckon they're pretty good Brian. Clearly shows his features and markings.
    I'd be very pleased with those.

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  2. Hi Brian.Can`t wait to see these falcons flying about.Hope to get some decent shots if th weathers kind to us.Long time since I`ve been to Leighton Moss,you`ll have to point me in the right direction again i`m afraid mate.
    Again very nice work and well deserved!!!

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  3. Excellent pic's (naturally) of the Hobby Brian. I've been there myself today and gave the hides (Lower/Public) where you saw this beautiful creature a couple of hours but to no avail, still......can't win 'em all! With your permission your images will be shown elsewhere as you can imagine Brian......once again excellent stuff.

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  4. I would say you did well to get these pictures.

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