I was watching what at first I thought was a Barn Owl at West Hartford tonight. As I looked closer I could see that it was a very pale Short Eared Owl. Unlike the other WH SEOs this bird flew very quickly from either side of the field behind the main pool.
The other SEOs glide over the field before occasionally dropping down on prey where as this bird kept diving unsuccesfully every 20 seconds or so.
Not much on the main pool tonight apart from a pair of Shellduck and a Mute Swan. Both of the pools have now merged due to flooding.
I flushed a pair of Grey Partridge from the track leading to the pool and there were around 6 Reed Buntings in the area.
Showing posts with label Short eared Owl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Short eared Owl. Show all posts
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Nightwatch
Last night I went for a walk around Arcot golfcourse with SH in the hope of hearing some Tawny Owls.
We set off at 6:15 just as it was begining to get dark, the wind which had been strong throughout the day had now gone.
Walking through the fields between Beacon Hill and Beacon Lane, a vocal Yellowhammer - Patch Tick, showed well in the headgerow.
As we walked down the lane a flock of 180+ Golden Plover - Patch Tick, which had been resting in a field with some Lapwing, took off.
A pair of Grey Partridge - Patch Tick, were calling and showing well in a field on the opposite side of the lane. Another pair were next to the horse field before running accross the path and into the hedgerow.
Once we were on the golfcourse we headed for the gap in the hedge that over looks the back of Arcot Pond and the fields behind it.
Nothing was on the pond but I just managed to spot a Short Eared Owl flying low over the field to our left. The light was fading very fast so we could just see the owls outline as it hunted low over the ground.
We stayed on the golfcourse for about an hour listening from different spots but no sign of any Tawnys or even more suprisingly any Woodcock.
65 - Yellowhammer
66 - Golden Plover
67 - Grey Partridge
We set off at 6:15 just as it was begining to get dark, the wind which had been strong throughout the day had now gone.
Walking through the fields between Beacon Hill and Beacon Lane, a vocal Yellowhammer - Patch Tick, showed well in the headgerow.
As we walked down the lane a flock of 180+ Golden Plover - Patch Tick, which had been resting in a field with some Lapwing, took off.
A pair of Grey Partridge - Patch Tick, were calling and showing well in a field on the opposite side of the lane. Another pair were next to the horse field before running accross the path and into the hedgerow.
Once we were on the golfcourse we headed for the gap in the hedge that over looks the back of Arcot Pond and the fields behind it.
Nothing was on the pond but I just managed to spot a Short Eared Owl flying low over the field to our left. The light was fading very fast so we could just see the owls outline as it hunted low over the ground.
We stayed on the golfcourse for about an hour listening from different spots but no sign of any Tawnys or even more suprisingly any Woodcock.
65 - Yellowhammer
66 - Golden Plover
67 - Grey Partridge
Saturday, 6 February 2010
One in one out
I was out early with SH this morning who was heading for Fenham flats and Stag Rocks.
On the way up the fog was quite thick but at the coast the sun had burnt the worst of it away and visibility was ok.
At Fenham there were 28 Whooper Swans in the fields right of the hide and Brent Geese and Wigeon were on the water. In total 112 Pintail flew past the hide.
Before going to Stag we stopped at Budle Bay as the tide was out. 2 Shovoler were the only suprising duck swimming in the channel.
Plenty of Grey Plover and Barwits were feeding on the mud and there were 4 Roe Deer in the field behind the lay by, one of which was feeding from a pheasant feeder!
The huge Lapwing flock which is in the bay took to the air as they were attacked from a Merlin and a Peregrine!
I missed the Merlin because I was watching the Peregrine catch one of the Lapwing. It wrestled with it in mid air before somehow the Lapwing managed to escape.
The Peregrine took another few lazy swipes at it before heading off away from the bay.
Steve thought that it was a Juvenile and probably not an accomplished hunter and this is why it didn't finish the Lapwing off.
From Stag Rocks we could see a huge flock of 400+ Common Scoter on the sea with a few Guillemots and Razorbill around them.
Amongst the flock was a dusky looking Red Necked Grebe - Lifer, which dived for long periods of time before we could get good views.
Also 10 Red Throated Divers, 10 Long Tailed Duck, 4 Red Breasted Merganser and 6 Slavonian Grebes were on the sea.
18 Purple Sandpipers were on the rocks and Fulmar pairs were resting on the castle walls.
Instead of heading south straight away we stopped at Newton Pool, somewhere I hadn't been before.
On the way to the hide there were 5 Dark Bellied Brents in a flooded field. Nothing much was on the pool but we did get close up views of Goldeneye and Gadwall.
Out next stop was Hemscott Hill links were 22 Twite were on the wire next to the cow field.
We scanned through the large number of geese which were in the fields around Bell's Pond.
Canada and 8 Barnacle Geese were next to the pond whilst Greylags and 500+ Pink Footed Geese were scattered around the other fields. Eventually Steve picked out the Bean Goose which had more characteristics of the Tundra race.
We stopped quickly at Woodhorn flash south pool were 4 Greenland White fronted Geese were between the pool and the railway line.
Last stop was West Hartford were we tried to flush out a Jack Snipe but only managed 22 Common instead. 2 Short Eared Owls - Patch Tick, were flying around the field next to the new fire station and along with a few other patch ticks, two Goldcrest were in the trees opposite the fire station.
44- Short Eared Owl
45 - Meadow Pipit
46 - Pied Wagtail
47 - Goldcrest
48 - Lapwing
Also I have decided to remove the Hooded Merganser I saw at Saltholme in the summer from my life list after I found out about the reputation of Scaling Dam Reservoir, ( the site it was found at) and the fact that a male has now turned up at Saltholme.
This evidence put the females origins in serious doubt and I want a clean list.
On the way up the fog was quite thick but at the coast the sun had burnt the worst of it away and visibility was ok.
At Fenham there were 28 Whooper Swans in the fields right of the hide and Brent Geese and Wigeon were on the water. In total 112 Pintail flew past the hide.
Before going to Stag we stopped at Budle Bay as the tide was out. 2 Shovoler were the only suprising duck swimming in the channel.
Plenty of Grey Plover and Barwits were feeding on the mud and there were 4 Roe Deer in the field behind the lay by, one of which was feeding from a pheasant feeder!
The huge Lapwing flock which is in the bay took to the air as they were attacked from a Merlin and a Peregrine!
I missed the Merlin because I was watching the Peregrine catch one of the Lapwing. It wrestled with it in mid air before somehow the Lapwing managed to escape.
The Peregrine took another few lazy swipes at it before heading off away from the bay.
Steve thought that it was a Juvenile and probably not an accomplished hunter and this is why it didn't finish the Lapwing off.
From Stag Rocks we could see a huge flock of 400+ Common Scoter on the sea with a few Guillemots and Razorbill around them.
Amongst the flock was a dusky looking Red Necked Grebe - Lifer, which dived for long periods of time before we could get good views.
Also 10 Red Throated Divers, 10 Long Tailed Duck, 4 Red Breasted Merganser and 6 Slavonian Grebes were on the sea.
18 Purple Sandpipers were on the rocks and Fulmar pairs were resting on the castle walls.
Instead of heading south straight away we stopped at Newton Pool, somewhere I hadn't been before.
On the way to the hide there were 5 Dark Bellied Brents in a flooded field. Nothing much was on the pool but we did get close up views of Goldeneye and Gadwall.
Out next stop was Hemscott Hill links were 22 Twite were on the wire next to the cow field.
We scanned through the large number of geese which were in the fields around Bell's Pond.
Canada and 8 Barnacle Geese were next to the pond whilst Greylags and 500+ Pink Footed Geese were scattered around the other fields. Eventually Steve picked out the Bean Goose which had more characteristics of the Tundra race.
We stopped quickly at Woodhorn flash south pool were 4 Greenland White fronted Geese were between the pool and the railway line.
Last stop was West Hartford were we tried to flush out a Jack Snipe but only managed 22 Common instead. 2 Short Eared Owls - Patch Tick, were flying around the field next to the new fire station and along with a few other patch ticks, two Goldcrest were in the trees opposite the fire station.
44- Short Eared Owl
45 - Meadow Pipit
46 - Pied Wagtail
47 - Goldcrest
48 - Lapwing
Also I have decided to remove the Hooded Merganser I saw at Saltholme in the summer from my life list after I found out about the reputation of Scaling Dam Reservoir, ( the site it was found at) and the fact that a male has now turned up at Saltholme.
This evidence put the females origins in serious doubt and I want a clean list.
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Prestwick SEO
Yesterday afternoon I went to Prestwick Carr with SH to look for the Short Eared Owls which have been there for the last month or so.
I always enjoy watching SEOs but I have only seen them at West Hartford and usually I don’t get good views. There was a group of birders scanning a marshy field next to the bumpy track, so we went over. It was getting dark as we waited, 2 Buzzards and 2 Kestrels were flying around the field and 70 Fieldfare went overhead. The occasional Snipe could also be heard going over.
Birds were coming into roost all the time including a good number of Woodpigeon which settled in the tree tops. A flock of 11 Long Tailed Tit passed through the hedges behind followed by a flock of Great Tit then Blue.
Soon after, the first Short Eared appeared at the far side of the field. It was soon joined by another and there pair began hunting over the marsh. As both birds dived down another appeared and it wasn’t long until and aerial battle broke out.
We could hear the owls screeching at each other occasionally before flying towards each other and tussling with their feet.
One of the owls landed in the top of a tree in the field and the other two came gradually closer and began hunting over the area behind the Goat field.
Another of the owl landed on something on the edge of a flood pool in front of us. It had its back to us but through bins we got very close views. It was ripping something to pieces and eating it although we never found out what. It occasionally turned around and stared at us, its yellow eyes looking directly at me at one point. It stayed on the ground foraround 5 minutes before joinging the others hunting over the field. By this time another SEO had joined the three.
As we were leaving one of the birds flew behind where it began hunting on the other side of the bumpy track.
I always enjoy watching SEOs but I have only seen them at West Hartford and usually I don’t get good views. There was a group of birders scanning a marshy field next to the bumpy track, so we went over. It was getting dark as we waited, 2 Buzzards and 2 Kestrels were flying around the field and 70 Fieldfare went overhead. The occasional Snipe could also be heard going over.
Birds were coming into roost all the time including a good number of Woodpigeon which settled in the tree tops. A flock of 11 Long Tailed Tit passed through the hedges behind followed by a flock of Great Tit then Blue.
Soon after, the first Short Eared appeared at the far side of the field. It was soon joined by another and there pair began hunting over the marsh. As both birds dived down another appeared and it wasn’t long until and aerial battle broke out.
We could hear the owls screeching at each other occasionally before flying towards each other and tussling with their feet.
One of the owls landed in the top of a tree in the field and the other two came gradually closer and began hunting over the area behind the Goat field.
Another of the owl landed on something on the edge of a flood pool in front of us. It had its back to us but through bins we got very close views. It was ripping something to pieces and eating it although we never found out what. It occasionally turned around and stared at us, its yellow eyes looking directly at me at one point. It stayed on the ground foraround 5 minutes before joinging the others hunting over the field. By this time another SEO had joined the three.
As we were leaving one of the birds flew behind where it began hunting on the other side of the bumpy track.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Unseasonal Owl
I was at West Hartford around 8 this evening to see if anything had settled on the water for the night.
The muddy margins are starting to show once again around both pools despite the showers today.
BH Gulls and a few LBB and Herring Gulls were at the back of the main pool again. After a while the gulls all took off at once and I could see a strange brown bird amongst them.
The gulls flew off south whilst the Brown bird landed on the bent branch of the tree behind the pool. It turned out to be an unseasonal Short Eared Owl, which stayed in the tree looking directly at me for around ten minutes.
I’m not sure what the Short Eared was doing flying amongst the gull group or if it was the reason the gulls flew off. I didn’t even see where it came from, I presume it came out of the long grass to the right of the pool and flew low behind the gulls.
As I was watching the Owl a Roe Deer skulked amongst the long grass in front of the tree.
The muddy margins are starting to show once again around both pools despite the showers today.
BH Gulls and a few LBB and Herring Gulls were at the back of the main pool again. After a while the gulls all took off at once and I could see a strange brown bird amongst them.
The gulls flew off south whilst the Brown bird landed on the bent branch of the tree behind the pool. It turned out to be an unseasonal Short Eared Owl, which stayed in the tree looking directly at me for around ten minutes.
I’m not sure what the Short Eared was doing flying amongst the gull group or if it was the reason the gulls flew off. I didn’t even see where it came from, I presume it came out of the long grass to the right of the pool and flew low behind the gulls.
As I was watching the Owl a Roe Deer skulked amongst the long grass in front of the tree.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Short Trip
I was out with Steve H for half an hour this afternoon once the wind and rain had died down.
We went to West Hartford for the Short Eared owls, which have been seen recently.
After only a few minutes watching in the field behind the pool, a Short Eared hovered close to the ground before landing. It put its head up and looked at us with its yellow eyes before lifting up and flying around the surrounding area.
Not much on the pool apart from the two Shellduck, Teal and Gulls.
Went to Arcot briefly afterwards but nothing new there, anyway good views of the Short Eared was good enough for me, back to coursework I think.
73 – Short Eared Owl
We went to West Hartford for the Short Eared owls, which have been seen recently.
After only a few minutes watching in the field behind the pool, a Short Eared hovered close to the ground before landing. It put its head up and looked at us with its yellow eyes before lifting up and flying around the surrounding area.
Not much on the pool apart from the two Shellduck, Teal and Gulls.
Went to Arcot briefly afterwards but nothing new there, anyway good views of the Short Eared was good enough for me, back to coursework I think.
73 – Short Eared Owl
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