Turned Out Nice Again! - on 8th March, 2018

If I've been a bit quiet in Bloggerland for a couple of weeks, it's because I have been away on the Isles of Scilly for a family holiday. I'm back in the saddle now, and feverishly working through the several thousand frames I fired off whilst there - hopefully there will be a few good ones (he said with a grin on his face!).

This post concerns a visit to Rutland Water, prompted by an attendance at the Volunteer Training Centre for the pre-season meeting for volunteers on the Rutland Osprey Project. As this meeting was scheduled to start at 18h00 so I set off mid-afternoon with the intention of visiting some of my Little Owl sites as the weather was fine.

Unfortunately, as I headed eastward across the county, the weather got more and more windy, and I realised I had little hope of finding an owl in the cold and windy conditions.

Near Queniborough, a Buzzard flew up from beside the road, but my attempts at photography were rather poor. Further on, near Burrough on the Hill a spotted a distant pair of Buzzards having a bit of an altercation. Here are a couple of images of that, although I wish I had been somewhat nearer the action.

Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) - near Burrough on the Hill

 To my surprise, I found an owl tucked in away from the wind at my Little Owl site No.37.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.37

There were no further owl sightings before I got to Rutland Water, where I called in at the Egleton Visitor Centre, enjoyed my first ice cream of the Rutland season, and then set off northwards.

Cutting a long story short, it seemed to be unusually quiet on the bird front on this part of the reserve. I spotted little of interest on Lagoon 4, and only photographed a Pochard.

Pochard (Aythya ferina) (female) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Most of my photos were taken from Shoveler Hide on Lagoon 3. I missed the potentially most interesting shot as a Water Rail shot across in front of the hide and instantly disappeared into the reeds. I reckon it must have been lurking within a metre of where I was sitting, but below my line of sight - unless I had stuck my head out of the window and looked down!

Here are some of the shots I did take - all of very common birds. There was much strong and low sunshine on occasion and I found photography challenging, although it did give a fine blue colour to the water. Fortunately the wind had died down somewhat too.

Shoveler (Anas clypeata) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Shoveler (Anas clypeata) (female) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Teal (Anas crecca) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Gadwall (Anas stepera) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Gadwall (Anas stepera) (female) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Pintail (Anas acuta) (male + female) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Pintail (Anas acuta) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

I'd taken a picnic tea with me which I'd left in the car and, at the appropriate time, headed back to the car park. By now it had turned very dull and rather cold. On the way back I found one of the meadows to be full of Redwing. However, these flew off the moment I saw them (and they saw me!). One Song Thrush did, however, decide to be brave.

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Whilst eating, I reflected that the afternoon had been a little disappointing - little did I know what was in store! Having finished my picnic at an appropriate time, I set off for the VTC. I was nearly there when I noticed a familiar shape sitting on a roadside fence post. I stopped the car at an angle in the road, and took some shots. I then moved forward a bit further and took some more.  The second image is a poor one, but it gives an indication of the depth of the feathering on the head as it was caught be the wind.

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) - near Egleton

Having taken my shots, I had to pass the owl to get to my destination. As I set off it flew to a fence a short way back from the road, and I got some more shots from a closer range.

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) - near Egleton

The owl then flew from this position to another roadside post ahead of me. However, it flew off again as I approached on my way to the VTC.

It was a short and enjoyable meeting at the VTC, where it was good to catch up with old friends and meet new faces. 

Afterwards, the weather had gone downhill, and I headed straight home, with no further sightings - but I was still buzzing from my Barn Owl encounter. 

If someone with a reliable crystal ball had told me that, including this day, I'd see four different species of owl in UK over a nine day period, I'd have assumed Little, Barn, Tawny, and possibly Short-eared. Little did I know that one of those would be missing and the substitute would be fabulous!

I suspect that it will be a while before I'm ready to publish a post on my Scillies visit, so my next post will probably be about something closer to home.

Thank you for dropping by.

Filey Dams - on 12th March, 2015

It's been a long while (nearly three weeks!), since my last post, and this is partly because my wife (Lindsay) and I had a much-needed break for just over a week, based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

On one of those days, Lindsay had a day enjoying a 'stained glass' workshop. She was quite concerned that I'd be left on my own, but I assured her that I'd probably find something to while away the time!

As it was sunny, there was no contest - I headed off to one of my favourite bird-watching locations in the area, and that is Filey Dams.

Filey Dams is quite a small reserve, accessed by driving to the end of a modern housing estate on the outskirts of Filey. It is managed by the Filey Bird Observatory & Group (FBOG), and has two relatively small hides. 

I'd been to the Dams in August, 2013 during a lone week based in Scarborough. The birders there are a very friendly group, and there was plenty of bird action to keep me amused too. I was, however, unsure as to what I might find during this March visit.

The first thing I noticed was a brand new Barn Owl box, probably only about 100 metres from the original box (still extant) that I'd enjoyed watching a Barn Owl emerge from on my previous visit. This new box was much closer to the hide than the old one. I was told that a Barn Owl had been investigating it recently, but did not seem to be in residence.

On my previous visit, most of the action had been at East Pool Hide, with plenty of waders giving good views. However, this time round, Main Hide (less than a stone's throw from the car park) provided most of the entertainment. Whilst nothing astounding, or even unusual, was seen, there were some good photo opportunities.

 It was gratifying to see that there is still a healthy population of Tree Sparrow here - a species that seems to be in decline in my own area.

Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) - Filey Dams

In the same area, to the left of Main Hide, where the Tree Sparrows were showing, Reed Bunting were also showing well. I spent quite some time photographing these. I only saw winter plumaged males.

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) - Filey Dams

Out on the water, in front of Main Hide, Little Grebe, Pochard, and Gadwall gave reasonable photographic opportunities.

Pochard (Aythya ferina) (male) + Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - Filey Dams

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - Filey Dams

Gadwall (Anus strepera) (female + male) - Filey Dams

Gadwall (Anus strepera) (male) - Filey Dams

Greylag Geese were resting on the grass in front of Main Hide, but they did take to the water too at one point.

Greylag Goose (Anser anser) - Filey Dams

Also resting on the grass in front of Main Hide was a female Pochard.

Pochard (Aythya ferina) (female) - Filey Dams

From the right hand side of the hide, I noticed a warbler. It didn't do me the favour of uttering any sort of sound but, from its appearance, I think that it's a Chiffchaff, rather than a Willow Warbler. Please correct me if you think that I'm wrong.

Chiffchaff? (Phylloscopus collybita) - Filey Dams

I did spend a while round at East Pool Hide, but only Shelduck arrived within photographable distance. 

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) (female) - Filey Dams

After the session here, I headed off to Reighton Sands to look for fossils, but didn't have much luck. It seemed logical, therefore, to return to Filey Dams for a while, in the hope of seeing an early Barn Owl before I had to go and pick up Lindsay at the end of her session, 15 minutes away.

On return to Filey Dams, I was told that I'd missed the Barn Owl by ten minutes!! I hung on in hope, but it didn't reappear. I did, however, take a few shots of Dunnock and Wren at the right hand side of Main Hide, although the light was poor by now, and the images not so good.

Dunnock (Prunella modularis) - Filey Dams

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Filey Dams

I went off to pick up Lindsay, who'd had an absolutely splendid time at The Stained Glass Centre, and was very careful not to be too enthusiastic about my own day!

CHANGING THE SUBJECT:

I'd like to draw your attention to a recent post I made to The Owlers Blog Network (link by clicking on the banner on the right of this blog, or here). It features a nest-cam which overlooks a Great Horned Owl nest in USA, in which there are two owlets. Check it out quickly as they may be gone soon! 

Thank you for dropping by.