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.