Owls

    Half way through March and I hadn't seen an owl this year. They were being reported from various locations but perhaps not in the numbers we have seen in previous years. This could be a sign of things to come with the milder winters we now seem to be experiencing.

I had a plan, Short-eared Owl on the north wall at Pagham and Barn Owl at Waltham Brooks. No problem, except that my first visit to the north wall proved to be the only night of the week that the SEO did not show.

I was having a bad week, an earlier trip down to Rye Harbour to see the Green-wing Teal and the Iceland Gull had drawn a blank on both. They were there the day before and the Iceland Gull was there early morning just before I arrived but both had departed never to be seen again. Another case of you should have been here yesterday.

Monday I returned to the North Wall, arriving mid afternoon and finding the SEO already out hunting. I watched it in the distance for about an hour with the light gradually starting to fade. Eventually it made a couple of closer passes and I managed to get a few pictures albeit still a bit distant.

Hawking the field

Diving in for the kill

Tuesday, flushed with my success at Pagham, I headed over to Waltham Brooks mid afternoon hoping to see the Barn Owl in good light. After two and a half hours standing in the middle of the brooks my hopes began to fade along with the light and thoughts of dinner waiting for me back at home had me heading back to the car.

Just before the railway crossing I had one final look and there it was approaching out of the growing gloom. I took a couple of distant photographs. At least you can see that it is a Barn Owl but I wouldn't care to blow it up any further.

Barn Owl

You forget just how lucky you are when you get a close flying Owl in good light. It happens only rarely. Perhaps I should go back for another go.