The hobby is an elegant aerial falcon visiting the UK each summer, feeding on dragonflies and small birds in flight, with welfare dependent on insect-rich wetland and open habitats.
Hobby welfare is tied to the availability of large flying insects, particularly dragonflies, in their breeding territories. Loss of wetland and dragonfly habitat through drainage reduces food availability, increasing foraging effort and potential nutritional stress when provisioning chicks. Pesticide use that reduces flying insect diversity indirectly harms hobbies by depleting their prey base. Nest disturbance at sensitive sites can cause breeding failure. Conservation of wetland habitats and reduction of insecticide use in agricultural landscapes benefits individual hobby welfare by maintaining the food resources they depend on.