I woke up to a very foggy morning, looked at the weather forecast and found that it was going to stay that way all day, so resigned myself to a day indoors - but that resignation did not last too long!
I remembered that, way back in December 2010, I'd been out owling when suddenly a blanket of freezing fog descended. It was time to go home! I'd only been going for about 20 minutes. taking a route that I don't usually take when, through the fog, I noticed a familiar shape on the apex of a roof. I'd found a new Little Owl site (No.16)! An image from that encounter appears in the header to my blog whilst this post is current.
My mind was made up - today I'll go out in the fog and investigate whether the Little Owls tend to stay tucked up in their cosy nest holes when fog descends!
The first site I reached was No.22. I've only seen an owl here twice, and each time it was on the top of the same telegraph pole - today I couldn't even see the top of the pole!
Next was No.47, where we're pretty certain that the owls have gone, so no surprise that nothing was seen here either.
At No.44, where it had been seven weeks since we'd seen a bird, one was showing in the nest tree - Bingo!!
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| Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.44 |
Next was No.46, but I couldn't even see the nest tree through the fog!
I was very lucky, however, at No. 41. Since a third bout of severe damage to the nest tree, we'd only been getting sightings in a nearby hawthorn, and we hadn't seen two birds here since mid-July. I arrived and saw a bird in the hawthorn, but didn't go for a photo as I was in the wrong car to drive into the field. I then noticed a second bird in the entrance to the old nest hole in the original nest tree!
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| Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.41 |
Continuing my travels, I could vaguely see site No.23, but no birds were visible. Nothing was visible at No.40, but we've not seen a bird here since June, and I couldn't see site No.51 through the fog.
At No.34 I couldn't make up my mind whether I was seeing a bird or not, and as the bird(s?) here have only just returned after being evicted by Stock Doves, I wasn't going to risk disturbing them by getting closer. My viewing point for No.36 is at exactly the same location, but I couldn't see the nest tree at all!
Nothing was visible a few hundred metres down the road at No.43, so I continued to No.42. Here I could vaguely see the site, but would only have seen an owl if it had sat on the apex of the roof. It didn't! It was now getting gloomier, and time to head home.
On the way back, I stopped to have another look at No.43, but nothing was visible. I was just about to set off again, when one popped its head out of a hole in the hawthorn. It was, by now, just far too gloomy for a photo, however.
I ended the day well-pleased with the results. It proved to me that, whilst fog might make things difficult for the owls, it didn't deter them from coming out. Furthermore, this was my first 4-owl day since mid-September!
It also proved that it's worthwhile attempting to take photos in the fog. Whilst I've purposely left the above images in the 'as taken' state in order to convey the conditions, I have also done adjusted versions, below. The light was bad enough that I had to take rather a lot of images in order to get one without handshake, but the last one makes it worthwhile for me.
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| Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.44 |
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| Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.41 |
Maybe it's about time I became an 'all weather birder'?
Take good care if you too decide to go birding in the fog. Thank you for dropping by.
