Is It A Bird...

[Humakt]

..well, yes it was. Just not sure which.
Whilst out for a walk today I saw either a peregrine or a hobby. It was one or the other. It was a good sighting, but it was from a distance and at that kind of distance my ID abilities are weak. But it was one or the other.
For those who know the area, I was on top of Blue Bell Hill (in Kent, between Maidstone and Medway) and looking south into the Medway valley with Aylesford below. The thing zoomed across, from east to west, from behind some trees to behind some more trees, about 300 yards away.
I've seen common buzzards there before, and hen harriers.
I have no picture (didn't have camera with me). Which I suppose makes this a bit of a non-thread. But I was dead chuffed to see (either) a peregrine or hobby so thought I'd tell you anyway.

[shepherd]

always a good sighting to see a bird of prey... iv been watching barn owls hunting locally and its great to see them. i used to work as a falconer and flew peregrines to the lure which was an amazing feeling, although they caught me out 9 times out of 10 because they were so fast!

[Martin]

The hobby, also known as Falco Subbuteo, is where they took the name for the famous (rubbish) table football game. Just saying.

Martin

[shepherd]

really?

[Martin]

really?

Really.

[Humakt]

Yeah, really.
They wanted to call it The Hobby but weren't allowed to copyright the name. So they went with the latin instead - Subbuteo.

[shepherd]

iv just been hit with some knowledge.. thanks guys

[Adam Savage]

Talking of birds of prey, we have two red kites in my surrounding area. Almost every day (warmer days that is), at least one of them has been drifting on the thermals, circling, soaring, etc, right over my garden (and surrounding gardens obviously lol).

Trying to get good photos of the thing is tricky. Never seem to have the camera close enough, and even my 13MP mobile camera is rubbish for anything over 20 feet away :(

[David_JAFO]

hello,
Working on a project just now only two of us conservation & protection of Urban Peregrines. Got a few pairs thriving across the area, but sadly 2 adults were poisoned in my area. Yes they're quite hard to photograph in flight at speed, I've been on rooftops various high locations trying to get a decent photograph, got loads for the recording of the Peregrines activities etc.. Here you require a special licence to photograph such on the nest from the Scottish Natural Heritage & Scottish Wildlife Trust which are in support of this project I have a Wildlife Officer with me on this one. So I've uploaded one of my latest photo's which was sheer opportunist as I spotted the adult on a roof, had to hold the camera at arms length & hope for the best as I was on a roof unusual angle fired off a few shots & out of such only 5 were in shot incl' this one. Hope to put in a nest box on a safe location along with my own camera traps as CCTV is too costly.
Regards
David

9019

[rossbird]

..well, yes it was. Just not sure which.
Whilst out for a walk today I saw either a peregrine or a hobby. It was one or the other. It was a good sighting, but it was from a distance and at that kind of distance my ID abilities are weak. But it was one or the other.
For those who know the area, I was on top of Blue Bell Hill (in Kent, between Maidstone and Medway) and looking south into the Medway valley with Aylesford below. The thing zoomed across, from east to west, from behind some trees to behind some more trees, about 300 yards away.
I've seen common buzzards there before, and hen harriers.
I have no picture (didn't have camera with me). Which I suppose makes this a bit of a non-thread. But I was dead chuffed to see (either) a peregrine or hobby so thought I'd tell you anyway.
Difficult to call Imo
There was obviously woodland around, not natural habitat for Peregrine, but then until recent years neither was town/city centres
Hobbies usually prefer open woodland with scrub.
Whichever it was, a good bird to get a sight of:D