It really feels like its the height of summer back at Hilfield. With the sun shining, the garden was full of birds. A great spotted woodpecker was busy drilling holes in the woods, while a group of long-tailed tits tweeted near the lake and a chiffchaff was singing near the compost bin. Overhead, hundreds of hirundines, all swallows and house martins passed over, presumably heading back to Africa for the winter. Remarkably, high above the hirundines, a juvenile hobby swirled, planning an attack. Suddenly, all the hirundines sped up and began to tweet loudly. An adult hobby appeared, chasing a swallow. They sped away together, before the hobby spotted another swallow and made for that one. The hobby turned around and was flying straight towards me, before noticing I was there and swerving out the way. It soon began to chase the swallow again, and I watched them as they flew away over the fields. A truly stunning spectacle.
A little later on, the hobby returned, this time with roles reversed and with a swallow mobbing it. Again it offered a magnificent view as it briefly hovered over the garden, before flying off. Another two hobbies flew over Hilfield as well during the morning.
Yesterday evening, a female sparrowhawk flew over and this afternoon two unseasonal herring gulls also passed over. On top of that, my first lesser spotted woodpecker at Hilfield flew over the garden on the 8th.
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