Wild and Wonderful: Barn Owl

Showing posts with label Barn Owl. Show all posts

Monday, 16 January 2023

(Rather Late) New Year Observations

How wonderful to have my first Barn Owl encounter of the year before we have even (quite) reached the mid-point of January! It took place in what is to become an official Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve, not far from Woodbridge and Ipswich, known as Martlesham Wilds.

We spent quite a while watching the owl as it quartered a large expanse of meadow. Every so often it was joined by a Kestrel, and at one point they had a bit of a ding-dong.

We reached the lower levels via a footpath from St Mary's church, which we were visiting, as we always do at this time of year, to enjoy the snowdrops. We passed about eight fully open daffodils on our way home. It may still be winter (and with a broken boiler, it certainly feels icy), but there are already signs of warmer days ahead.

David checked the film on our Trailcam yesterday. There was no evidence of any further 'foxy' activity, just lots of feline visitors ... and this delightful mouse from way back in October.

We had watched the Wren in the final photo some days ago, and wondered if it would show up as it only landed momentarily. We usually have a resident Wren, so we look forward to seeing it again. We also had an unrecorded visit from the local Sparrowhawk, who zoomed at a very low altitude over the garden one day last week.

I wish you a wonderful wildlife year ...

I must go now, and order some more bird food. And don't forget; BBC Winterwatch begins tomorrow (17th January).

Monday, 16 March 2020

Wildlife at NT Sutton Hoo

It was a very grey afternoon with a keen east wind, but we were glad nevertheless to be out in the fresh air. I had failed to check my camera, and after a couple of shots, it gave out with a flat battery. Fortunately David had our small Canon, so these photos are a mixture of his and hers!

I took the photo of the Muntjac in the first picture from a picnic bench.

As I perched, a second deer came along. Our spirits began to lift, despite the dark clouds that were descending.

The photo above shows Woodbridge from the Sutton Hoo side of the river Deben...

There were very few wild flowers, but the daffodils on the bank leading up to Tranmer House are beginning to look beautiful.

I kept my eyes open, and eventually I found a rather bedraggled Lesser Celandine.

As you can tell from the photo below, it will be at its best in a couple of days time.

Suddenly we noticed the distinctive white wings of a Barn Owl...

It was quartering large expanse of grass beside the river.

The owl was very active and I began to wonder if it would ever come to rest.

Eventually it landed on a post at some distance from us...

...before swooping off again.

The photo below, taken in very muted conditions, helps to show just how well the bird blends in with the reeds.

Wildlife sometimes takes us by surprise: this beautiful Barn Owl transformed a rather unpromising afternoon.

Monday, 23 November 2015

Black Kite and Barn Owl

I am just recovering from a bout of bronchitis, so have not been out and about very much recently. However, we decided to go for a drive yesterday afternoon in the hope that we might see a Barn Owl near the River Deben.

Just as we were approaching the lay-by that has proved fruitful for bird watching in the past, we drove under some branches and noticed a bit of commotion. There were people with binoculars watching a large sedentary bird of prey over our heads.

We pulled in when it was safe to do so, but by the time we had parked, the bird had flown off. The people with binoculars told us that it was a Black Kite, and that it had made several appearances in the area. We were pretty excited!

Red Kites were under severe threat when I was growing up. By the time we moved to Wales some 25 years ago, the trend was just beginning to swing back in favour of these majestic birds. We even had one flying over our house, high above Swansea Bay.

Black Kite (Milvus migrans)

Back in 2010, I heard that there was a Black Kite over Gigrin Farm in Ceredigion, but I did not have the chance to see it.

I had only ever seen one of these birds in captivity (see photo above), until yesterday. If only I had had my camera poised and ready!

The Kite was not the only bird of prey out and about. I just managed to take a quick photo of this Kestrel who perched for a short time, high up on a bare branch:

We drove on a little, and as we did so, a huge white sweep-of-a-bird flew on ahead of us down the road. It was, of course, a Barn Owl.

We pulled in safely and watched it quartering an expanse of marshy field. The light was fading fast by this time, and the bird stayed at a distance from the road.

David took this photo below, which is definitely the best!

We may have had wonderful Red Kite sightings in Wales, but we rarely saw owls. Suffolk seems a good place for them: there is a lovely photo of a Short-eared Owl on the shingle at Felixstowe here (scroll to Monday 16 November) on the Suffolk Birding with BINS blog. John Richardson (of Old Man Minsmere blog) has terrific photos of Short-eared owls here. Owls - what magnificent birds!

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

In advance of the Big Garden Birdwatch, my 2015 Bird List to date

Goldeneye, Essex Wildlife Trust's Abberton Reservor Reserve

These are my 2015 January lists, thus far. I am only counting each species once, even if it is spotted in several locations ...

Birds

Home Patch

Blackbird (about five)
Blue tit (small cluster)
Buzzard (one - a first!)
Chaffinch (one)
Common Gull (about eleven)
Goldfinch (small flock)
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great tit (about four)
Grey Heron (one)
Long-tailed tit (about eight, possibly more most days)
Magpie (about five)
Robin (one most days)
Song Thrush (one - and also one in the park)
Starling (five)
Wood pigeon (plenty!)
Wren (one)

Abberton Reservoir, Essex Wildlife Trust

Common Gull (a few)
Goldeneye (two)
Greylag Goose (a flock)
Lapwing (colony)
Mallard (quite a few)
Mute Swan (about twenty)
Tufted Duck (ditto)

Bawdsey

Barn Owl (one)
Carrion Crow (one)
Kestrel (one)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (one)

Christchurch Park

Redwing (about seven)

Southwold

Turnstone (twelve)

Current total of bird species seen: 29

Mammals

Home Patch

Grey Squirrel (one on several occasions)

Bawdsey

Muntjac Deer (one)

All species can be found on the RSPB site here.

If you live in the UK and would like to take part in the 2015 Big Garden Birdwatch, you will find details here.

Monday, 12 January 2015

Our First Barn Owl of 2015

What a windy weekend!

I was given a copy of Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet by Mark Cocker for my recent birthday. I grew up only a few miles from the Yare-side village of Claxton, so was particularly keen to read the volume. Mark Cocker writes compellingly about his Norfolk owl encounters in the book, and it was these accounts that made me feel the urge to seek an owl encounter of my own.

We headed for the Suffolk coast, watching for birds of prey on a small road that runs along the River Deben, keeping a weather eye on the state of the wind and high tide.

We pulled in at a favourite lay-by and looked around. Intitially the surrounding area seemed devoid of avian wildlife, but all of a sudden a Kestrel swept into view, hovering near the tree-line on our left. It did not hang about, but David was quick to spot a Little Egret in a dyke on the opposite side of the road.

We had watched Barn Owls, these magnificent giants, from this spot in the past. Astonishingly we did not have to wait long before a graceful, if ghostly, form spread out before us, quartering the fields. It circled round for a short while before taking roost in the dense bare branches of a tree. The photos below were nearly all taken behind the glass of the car windscreen and the conditions for photography were far from good. But the joy was in the seeing and the watching, and the record shots below testify to the excitement of what could otherwise have been a dull January afternoon.