The Eurasian Hobby is a migratory species. Birds arrive in the UK from early April and head off on migration in September/October.
The entire British breeding population of Hobbies migrates south to spend the winter months in tropical Africa; the exact location is still a bit of a mystery, although two birds fitted with satellite tags in Germany spent the winter months on the southern edge of the Congo rainforest, in Angola, this might hint at the winter location of some British Hobbies too.
EY03640 was 1 of 3 chicks ringed from a nest in West Yorkshire on the 28th July 2018, the bird had completed one full migration when it was found injured with a shoulder fracture, near to Settiner See in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, Germany and was released after care.
It is fairly safe to assume that this bird returned to Europe after overwintering in Southern Africa. Whilst we have no exact details of where this particular bird migrated to or the exact route or destination, we have attached a rough map showing that this bird had in all probability travelled almost 10,000 miles since leaving the nest approximately 340 days previously.
