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. 

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. 

 We finally reached the waterfront, where we looked out on Felixstowe Ferry and its martello towers ...

For more Suffolk wildlife and superb photography ...

• Old Man of Minsmere aka John Richardson: Suffolk (Kingfisher and) Short-eared Owl Sighting 

Click on the logo below to see other wildlife posts from all over ...

Seasonal Splash: January Bird Count

This is my Wordle, listing birds I saw in January 2013. 

These were spotted in Suffolk and Essex. 

The white Pekin Ducks (which were swimming with Mallards) were probably 'farmyard escapes'.

Bird of the Month ~ Barn Owl near Flatford

Beautiful Birds (28): Of Owls and Corvids

© Caroline Gill ... a work in progress

So much has been happening and I have got very behind with my posts, so this will be something of a round-up.

I wonder if you have been enjoying Springwatch on the BBC? I have particularly pleased to see the Puffins (probably my favourite bird) and the Short Eared Owl on Skomer. Fellow blogger, Adam Tilt, posted a terrific photo of the Little Owl he watched on the island. 

I have had great fun in my art class attempting my first 'stylised impasto' piece in oils: I have yet to finish it, but I hope you like what I think is a European Eagle Owl, painted from a photo I took of a rescue bird some time ago.

Speaking of creatures in flight, we thoroughly enjoyed an event at the recent Hay Festival with Mark Cocker, author of 'Crow Country' (5 star IMHO ... see my Amazon bookshelf in the right side bar here), in conversation with Rosie Boycott and fellow Guardian 'country diarist', the mountaineer, Jim Perrin. I ventured to ask a question at the end about the place - or lack of it - of adverbs or adjectives in this kind of tight writing, much to the apparent amusement or bemusement of some of those in the room!