Monday 31 December 2018

End of Year Odds & Ends

In the past week there have been sightings of Barn Owls, Short-eared Owls, many Kestrels, and a variety of light and dark Buzzards.  However, on the last two afternoons there have been absolutely no owls of any species, so perhaps the weather has been too mild, or we need some wet and windy owls to bring the owls out earlier in the afternoon.  I'm hoping the wildlife improves before the classes resume in a week's time.  What follows is a round-up of photos taken in the past week, but none of them in the last couple of days.  Happy New Year!
Barn Owl
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 Dark phase Buzzard
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 Record shot of another dark phase Buzzard
 Short-eared Owl
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 Parliament of Magpies
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Wednesday 26 December 2018

Christmas Day Owls

Christmas Day was very grey in these parts, so it wasn't very promising.  As we drove through Keyingham the mist seemed to become more dense, so we wondered if it was worth continuing at all.  We turned off the main road onto the minor roads.  Every few yards or so we came across a Kestrel.  We probably saw at least 13 or so in all.  There were vast areas were we couldn't see any other wildlife at all, but there were several small groups of Roe Deer scattered about.  

The "Buzzard hedge" was very disappointing for the second day running, and there were dog walkers around, one with 4 dogs, so we think they had flushed the Buzzards.  Things changed when we reached Stone Creek.  We were nearing the bridge when a Short-eared owl flew low over a hedge and landed on the bank of a ditch right next to us.  We were so busy watching this we didn't spot at first a second bird which must have been chasing the other, but it saw us and perched on the opposite side of the bank.  I was able to drive closer to the confiding bird, whose head continued to turn nervously in every direction.  Meanwhile, the second individual seemed fixated on the first bird.  The second bird may have been  female as she appeared darker than the first bird.  After ten minutes the second bird had accustomed herself to our presence and suddenly launchers herself and made a glancing blow on the first bird, which flew away from us and landed one a telegraph post!  The second bird disappeared from sight.  We were probably helped by the lack of cars on Christmas Day.  On any other occasion we wouldn't have been allowed to have had 10 uninterrupted minutes with these two owls without having to move the car, so we were privileged to spend so much time with them.
Bird One: (Male?) Short-eared Owl
Bird Two: (Female?) Short-eared Owl 
 Bird One - notice one eyelid droops slightly
Number 2 
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 Checking out 1
 Getting Closer to 1
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On the way back we checked for yesterday's Little Owl, but without the sun it was a forlorn hope.  However, near Paull we did find a hunting Barn Owl, but it was too distant and dark for photographs.

Tuesday 25 December 2018

Sunny Afternoons with Owls and Raptors

It's best looking for the owls after wet and windy nights. When the sun is out it tends to improve the quality of the images being taken.  The following are the results of 2 afternoons over the last week.  The pale Buzzard which was photographed the other week seems to like to lap up the late afternoon sun in the same area.  This is her taking off whilst I was driving past, so my nephew took these photos.  Her partner also like to sunbathe in the same area, as well as being a lot smaller, he's also a lot darker than her.  His photo appears a couple of blog entries ago.  We saw him just before these images were taken, but he was sat with many twigs in front of him.
Female Buzzard (c) 2018 Ben Coneyworth
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On the drive to Thorngumbald we came across a Barn Owl hunting.  Again my nephew took the photos as the bird was at his side of the car.  The Owl came towards us, but then plunged into the crop.  I moved the car and managed to snatch a few photos as the bird took  to the air.  It was only when I was processing them that I managed to see that the stoop had been successful.  The tail of the prey looks quite small, so it is probably a Vole.  
Barn Owl (c) 2018 Ben Coneyworth
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 Barn Owl with prey
 Barn Owl in Flight
 Barn Owl with prey 
 Roe Deer
Yesterday's drive around the same route failed to locate any Buzzards in the usual area.  It appeared a dog walker had traversed that road recently which had spooked the birds.  The Barn Owl was also missing from the farmhouse near the road.  However, I investigate a distant bump on the solar-powered roof, which turned into a Little Owl.  This is the first I remember seeing in that particular area.  Unfortunately, it was too far away for good resolution photos.  However, because they are sedentary, I will continue to look for it in that particular area on subsequent visits.  
 Little Owl - head down (relaxed)
 Little Owl - Head up (more alert)
On the earlier visit my nephew spotted the male Hen Harrier again crossing a field.  Unfortunately, it was directly between us and the sun, so he didn't attempt to take any photos.  We watched it for ten minutes or so, but it flew away from any roads, so it wasn't possible to follow it.  On yesterday's visit we didn't see the Hen Harrier, so either we were unlucky with our timing, or young eyes are best to spot it, and he wasn't in the car yesterday.
The Short-eared Owl was once again in its accustomed area, and perched in the late afternoon sunshine.  This time it is just about possible to make out the "ear" tufts in a couple of the photos.
Short-eared Owl
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 "Ear" tuft visible 
 Staring me out