Fast and lethal, the hobby plucks a martin from the air

Waltham Brooks, West Sussex I’ve seen hobbies hunt smaller birds in fast, level flight, but not attack as a peregrine wouldGolden grass heads nod up and down in flowing waves at the insistence of the breeze. Lapwing are collecting around the edges of the pools in greater numbers than before, and there are also more gadwall and mallard paddling on the water as autumn draws in.Clouds of soft brown and cream sand martins and black and white swallows – hirundines – dance low over t