Chris Yates heads up

[chrisjpainter]

Not strictly fishing...not strictly off topic! But Chris Yates is on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow at 4:30 looking for Hen Harriers in Wiltshire.

BBC Radio 4 - Reading the Air

Writer Chris Yates looks to the skies in search of the wintering hen harrier.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[flightliner]

I'll try to remember to watch as never seen a hen harrier.
That said I saw my first HOBBY two weeks ago.
I had been driving home from a nearby village when this bird flew out of a nearby field, it half turned when it realised my car was bearing down on it but then just carried on flying along the road for some hundred plus yards.
It gave me the chance to note identifying features that included scimiter wings, bold white cheek markings and an underside distinctive black/white intermediate feathering.
It had all the hallmarks of a bird of prey and when home my bird book confirmed it a HOBBY, the first I've ever seen.
It was a wonderful sighting!

 

[chrisjpainter]

I'll try to remember to watch as never seen a hen harrier.
That said I saw my first HOBBY two weeks ago.
I had been driving home from a nearby village when this bird flew out of a nearby field, it half turned when it realised my car was bearing down on it but then just carried on flying along the road for some hundred plus yards.
It gave me the chance to note identifying features that included scimiter wings, bold white cheek markings and an underside distinctive black/white intermediate feathering.
It had all the hallmarks of a bird of prey and when home my bird book confirmed it a HOBBY, the first I've ever seen.
It was a wonderful sighting!

Hobbies are superb birds to watch. We have some brilliant places to watch them down here with lots of warm, exposed heath lakes that produce a shed load of dragonflies. I've missed man a bite because I've been watching a hobby!

 

[mikench]

I have seen a hen harrier once , maybe twice. It was a male which is much easier to identify. Seeing a bird of prey in the wild is such a joy and it raises one’s spirits. I usually see them when I don’t expect to. There are some spectacular birds of prey in the UAE on migration to or from somewhere. I have seen a few of these here as they are so distinctive.

A dark shouldered / black winged kite.