Hares & Hobbys

The state of my relationship with my local patch depends purely on how much effort I put into it. Like every other relationship, I guess. A month has passed with barely a single visit, so until this weekend we were not on good terms. Two visits in two days have smoothed things over a little. Although Spring has eased  into early Summer, territories are still being maintained. This male Chaffinch was letting rip with gusto:

The big news is that the floods have returned. The less surprising news is that we are still birdless. Not an Egret, a Tern or even a Heron this morning. Not that I've ever seen an Egret or Tern in these arable fields, but floods make a man dream. Below, the River Thame in the foreground, the flood meadows in the background, looking towards Chiselhampton:

The local Hobby pair are back on their usual nest and this morning were mobbing any passing Red Kite or Buzzard:

I have finally worked out a method for getting close to the local Brown Hares: watch where they scuttle into the field edge, approach downwind to within 10 metres, sit down quietly and wait. Usually within a few minutes they are back out on the short grass. I spent a very pleasant 45 minutes with three this morning and even got some video footage:

As always, hit the settings cog in the bottom right of the video and watch at 720p or 1080p for full HD