She swoops, she scores

In the first of a weekly series exploring our birds of prey, Mark Cocker examines the hobby, a falcon of elegance and rapacity that can snatch swallows in flight and catch bats after dusk

- Mark Cocker

HOBBY is a rather strange name for this wonderful bird, although it apparently bears no relationship to the human sort of 'hobby'—the personal pastime. Yet those of us of a particular vintage may recognise sporting connotations in the falcon's scientific name, Falco subbuteo, because it was once a popular children's board game based on football, the creator of which was said to love this particular bird of prey.

Subbuteo may now be unfamiliar, but hobbies themselves go from strength to strength. The British breeding population has increased at least 20-fold since 2000 and this almost certainly underestimates the total, which ranges from Cornwall to Co Durham. Some suggest the figure could be as high as 5,000 pairs, which is astonishing when you realise that, in 1970, the national total was put at 81 pairs.

'A hobby's life could entail 24 journeys back and forth to Africa'