Hobby

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of Hobby, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

This species can be found on the following statutory and conservation listings and schedules.

UK Birds of Conservation Concern	Green listed
Species of European Conservation Concern	Least Concern
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (global)	Least Concern
Schedule 1 license required (to disturb)	Yes
Birds Directive Annex 1	No
Listed on the Annexes of	WCA(I,IV), Bern(III), Bonn(II), CITES(II)

This species used to be too rare and unobtrusive for wide-scale monitoring but, following population increase, BBS is now able to produce a trend. Many BBS sightings, however, are likely to refer to migrants, first-summer non-breeders, or to breeding birds from distant nests. To establish whether nesting occurs in a locality, dedicated observers and specialised field methods are required, as described by Hardey et al. (2009). The Rare Breeding Birds Panel collects annual data on nesting pairs, which under-represent the true population to an unknown degree, but adequately establish the long-term upward trend (eg Holling & RBBP 2014). RBBP guidelines for recording this species are here. Numbers in parts of southeast England could be considerably higher than previously recognised (Clements & Everett 2012). Clements et al. (2016) looked at breeding densities from recent survey work in several areas, and concluded that the lower limit to the UK population estimate was 3,000 to 3,500 pairs, with perhaps as many as 5,000 pairs breeding. However, this is a tentative estimate, which needs to be confirmed with a full survey.

The Hobby's distribution has spread markedly northwards in England since the 1970s (Gibbons et al. 1993). The species is now widespread north to Lancashire and Co Durham (Balmer et al. 2013).

UK breeding population

No population change in UK (1995–2022)

Hobbies are widespread in south and central Britain, with the exception of west Wales and Cornwall where they remain scarce. Further north they are thinly distributed as far north as south Northumberland. A small number breed in the Scottish Highlands but sporadic nesting pairs elsewhere in Scotland may have been overlooked.

Hobbies have undergone a large range expansion, now occupying four times as many 10-km squares as in the 1968–72 Breeding Atlas.

Hobby is a summer visitor, mostly arriving from late April, with last birds departing in October and sometimes November.

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Maximum Age from Ringing	14 years 10 months 19 days (set in 2007)
Typical Lifespan	5 years with breeding typically at 2 year
Adult Survival	0.745
Juvenile Survival	0.47 (in first year)

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

Ring size	E
Field Codes	2-letter: HY | 5-letter code: HOBBY | Euring: 3100

For information in another language (where available) click on a linked name

Causes of change

The causes of change are unclear, although changes in prey availability and a decreasing dependency on its traditional heathland habitat have been suggested as speculative reasons for the increases.

Further information on causes of change

The increases and northward range expansion since the 1970s are perhaps linked to increases in its dragonfly prey supplies (Prince & Clarke 1993) and to a decreasing dependency on its traditional heathland habitat, but the reasons underlying the increase are still only speculative (Clements 2001).

A success rate of more than 90% was recorded for nests in Derbyshire during 1992-2001, with successful nests fledging a mean of 2.44 young (Messenger & Roome 2007). The small annual samples of nest record cards indicate no long-term change in nest success.

Information about conservation actions

The trend for Hobby in the UK is stable or increasing, hence no specific conservation actions are currently required for this species. The causes of change are unclear and no conservation recommendations related to this species have been proposed.