Hobbies...Brockholes Nature Reserve

This last week has seen me visiting a local nature reserve to observe and try and obtain images of hobbies The pleasant warm and settled weather continued and provided perfect conditions for the birds hawking the lakes and woods of Brockholes. On my first visit  on a warm and sunny afternoon there was plenty of activity from raptors and birdwatchers.
There were seven hobbies present,a number of buzzards,sparrowhawk and peregrine.We all enjoyed superb views of the birds flying over the woodlands and lakes at Brockholes.I had of course taken my camera gear and was anxious to try and capture some images particularly of the hobbies.I had seen my very first hobby at Brockholes back in 2008,a juvenile bird which stayed for two weeks or more.I had also just purchased my first telephoto lens,a500mm Nikon.I managed some good images of the hobby and was pleased with my venture into the world of serious bird photography.

Time has of course moved on and it was very nice to catch up with hobbies again.I made two visits to Brockholes and came away with hundreds of images the best of which are shown above.Also I managed some shots of the buzzards which were also patrolling the warm and sunny skies.The hobbies were not easy to photograph as they flew around at great speed and constantly changed direction in their pursuit of dragonflies which they catch and eat in mid air.

Hope you enjoy my efforts at photographing these wonderful little falcons.I have also shown yours truly in action and a shot of the general area of the lakes and woodlands where most of the action took place.Since then the weather has turned very Autumnal and I would think the hobbies have moved on further south as they begin their long migrations.I look forward to more encounters with these beautiful dashing little falcons next year. Thanks for looking in and next time I will have more images from Leighton Moss.