I’m not a proper birder, in a (very) small part because I don’t keep a ‘life-list’ of all the birds I’ve seen.  I’m just not a list kind of person - it’s hard enough keeping my photos tagged properly so I don’t get completely disorganised.  However, I do remember the birds I’ve seen, particularly the highlight species, though I end up somewhat vague on when and where I might have first seen them.  

Roll onto to the point of this post.  I was just sorting and deleting a lot of photos on my way to trying to process some dragonfly images (more of that on another post) when I had a bit of a surprise and, as a result, some delayed elation.  A few days ago I’d been out one evening looking for ‘our’ resident kestrels and hoping to get some action at dusk.  As I walked out into the meadow area I saw, what I thought was, one of the birds but a long way off across the meadow and heading for the tree line.  I remember now thinking there was something not quite right so,  purely on instinct, I grabbed a few  distant ‘record’ shots.  Unfortunately the bird flew off across the tree line and over the woods and I didn’t get any further photos.  Today, just as I was about to delete that group of photos of the ‘kestrel’ in the distance, something again caught my eye.  Once again somehow there was something not quite right about that kestrel.  That same reaction jogged my memory as the reason that caused me to take those snaps.  I processed them a bit and gratuitously enlarged the image and slowly it became apparent that, after reference to my bird guides, the bird wasn’t a kestrel but a… hobby. 

Now, I don’t think I have ever knowingly seen a wild hobby before and that made the whole thing really quite exciting in a small, lazy Saturday afternoon in the summer, sort of way.  My first encounter with a hobby turns out to less than three seconds at a distance of something over 200 metres and I’m quite made up with that!   

And… perhaps, just perhaps, I’m getting to be a better ‘naturalist’ too.  Ok, I don’t keep lists, but I do seem to be getting better at recognising the ‘jizz’ of the birds and animals I do know.  After all, I did spot that a speck of a bird at 300m flying away from me was something very but not quite entirely like a kestrel; unfortunately, it was just all a bit too subconscious! 

I try not to publish my poorer photos here.  Believe me when I say I have taken tens of thousands of poor photos and I generally try to gloss over that rather extensive body of work.  For sure, these two snaps are not going to win any prizes but they are a good example of taking a ‘record shot’ for later reference.  On this occasion, I’m going to share them purely as a self reminder to look more closely and not jump to a conclusion when a little bell is ringing at the back of my mind trying to tell me something.  Things may not be what they seem.  Maybe this bird is staying in the area and I’ll see it again; this time I’ll be looking for it.