Branches, branches everywhere

and behind them cracking birds just sit and stare. Well actually in the hour or so I spent this morning they also dozed and preened feeling safe in their hawthorn enclosure.

Yes that's plural. Two birds next to each other discovered when I was out last night trying to find the Shorteared Owls for a visiting couple I found young tufty in the same place as Thursday and was banging on about how the bird behind it was a shorty when the lady pointed out it also had tufted ears. Cracking. Never did find a Shorty last night but this pale bird perched for a while nearby this morning.

Never can get close enough and hopefully M will have some better shots of all three owls.

V also paid a visit but not even a bigger lens can get past the tangle of growth.

There's nowt like warming yer lugs in the sunshine of a morning.

I got stalled watching these birds and never did complete my usual count but there was evident Skylark and Pipit movement with a large flock of about 100 Goldfinch still feeding on the thistles. Another shot was missed when they mobbed a Kestrel en masse. Never mind I can't complain at the fayre on offer despite the obstructions, but for the rain approaching I would still be there.

Bonus bird

No sooner had I mentioned to ADMc last night that given the time I had spent on patch recently I was surprised I hadn't picked up anything else of note as if flocks of Shorteared Owls weren't satisfying enough. Dick then called me to look at an Owl he had found perched deep inside a bush. Dark striped markings, ear tufts and after a short wait ...........yes orange eyes. Come in No 101 on Prestwick Carr 2011 list, a Longeared Owl. All credit to City Birder for this wonderful find. My shot does less than justice but keep an eye out on Northumbrian Birding as I saw some nice digiscoped images.

As well as an Owl fest there was a bit of a Blogger jam on the bumpy road which a few cyclists that passed through had to evade. In addition to the two previously mentioned, Crammy Birder and Holywell Birding were also in attendance along with a few photographers, bird club members and passing locals. I am thinking about selling refreshments but more useful is fly repellant.

One of the target (for Owls that is) critters was spotted on the road. Had probably been grabbed already as it didn't appear to be aware of the feet, bicycle wheels, tripods and terrier that could have ended its suffering at any moment. I conclude given the hooter Common Shrew but I stand ready to be enlightened.

Flight night

After two days of wind the Short-eared Owls emerged en-masse last night to catch up on their feeding. At one stage six soared together whilst two hunted nearby making counting nice and easy. That's er........eight!

Would you believe the light was too good and many of my earlier shots had burn out due to the white contrasting against the darker brown plummage.


In addition whilst it looks like the birds are just floating over the ground the speed is deceptive and they cover some distance which is my excuse for never getting really good focus. There were others there who hopefully did.

Tell me when you get bored of SEO shots as I never will.

Three of a kind

Following recent correspondence with the Durham owler I headed out tonight to check Prestwicks Carr wood. Not a bright place to be in a gale I thought but a Birch on the skull would be a pleasant relief on life. I returned, still alive to check the pond area and lo.........

Three shorties hiding from the gale. The first was normal coloured and very attentive staring me out for twenty minutes or so.

The second was the pale bird which demonstrates little of the facial ring associated with Short eared owls and didn't always seem keen on its sibling. ( I assume)

The third who sat very still other than preening was a very dark bird and downy almost certainly a juvenile. One lady in Prestwick is very pleased tognight having seen these on their perch but..........
it's not only Owls who enjoy the vole bonanza

Reynard got in on the act too chomping prey on two out of three pounces!

A Stint up the coast

On Saturday headed up to Cresswell for another year tick. The Little Stint showed well but never close enough for my lens. This female Stonechat with ankle bracelet was more obliging though.

Earlier spent some time in a stinky hide at Hauxley. The theory was that rotting seaweed would attract insects and thus at high tide lots of birds. One Redshank and five Dunlin was the grand total. A number of people visited the hide while I was there but all left in short order. I wonder if they thought the stink was me................probably was! IF had apparently found some Mandarin duck earlier in the day but Teal and Mallard was all I saw.


The holiday season clearly hasn't ended with father demonstrating how to watch birds from a hide.

Precious. He obviously hasn't yet encountered the dodgy shutter catch present in many of the local hides.

I of course ended up on patch enduring a rain shower, more midge bites and another bright spell before four SEO's appeared in quick succession. They posed for a while then started hunting. I got my usual pastel shots managing to fluff the best opportunity but man on a mission from Wallsend got some better results. Hope the wife enjoyed her beer.

And then there were.....

well it's debatable but probably six or seven. I arrived at 5.00 to find the best vantage point taken by a courting taxi driver and his gal so I set up behind a bush and scanned in the opposite direction to the loving couple. Can't let romance interfere with the birding.

Almost immediately I saw a single Short eared Owl hunting low to the North. It managed about five minutes coming within a hundred yards once before Swallows and then two pesky Crows started mobbing it. The bird did the standard anti Crow manouvere and climbed higher and higher in small tight circles till it was at least 1000 foot up and the Crow was having problems getting the lift so gave up the chase. The bird disappeard from view in the distance but re-appeared hunting again some ten minutes later. This procedure occured twice more until it eventually flew toward me, plunged to the ground and then up and off behind a gate carrying prey. Sortly after I was joined by City Birding.

We watched and the bird (or was it) re-appeared quite a way away and then Dick noticed another bird nearer the wood. This bird was much darker in plumage and both birds hunted intermittently judging by the dives, the success rate seemed quite high. The darker bird then perched by which time there were four or five of us watching.

At 6.50 the sun came out and the light conditions remained perfect for good photography for the next half hour but of course nothing flew and the bird remained on its distant perch.

As the shadows lengthend the sun went down and the light failed up came another bird quite close this being a very pale individual. We watched it hunt for a good ten minutes before it caught and stayed down. Dick, Sandy and Alan drifted off having succumbed to attack by flies and I watched with another photgrapher as all three birds re-appeared and started hunting. I then got calls form both Sandy and Dick from either end of the road that two birds were hunting on the other side and when I crosssed to the spot I should have been viewing form, Alan was watching three, possibly four birds hunting westward in the failing light.

So good numbers of birds present but still no cigar on the photo hunt.

The sky last night

Got in just after 7.00 last night having spent an hour chasing a Redstart up and down a fence line while he caught flies and I got bitten by them. Put some pasta on and settled down with a glass of pain relief looking forward to watching the Sky at Night to find out about the super nova.
I noticed Sandy's car pull up outside and thought about ducking down and not answering the door but I hoped he was going to say exactly what he did. Three Short eared Owls out hunting. I grabbed my gear and fortunately at the last moment remembered to turn the pasta off. The kitchen still hasn't recovered from the last time I got distracted whilst cooking.

Dashed down to the Carr and there they were. Two perched together and one hunting. Spent half an hour watching them as they quartered low over the grass. There was a possibility of a fourth bird but it's hard to keep track as they dive down and come back up. The site record is 14 back in the nineties I it always beats me how anybody could come to such a definative count. The nights though are closing in and even super high ISO couldn't slow the motion but I quite like the pastel effect of the one above.

The Redstart was a nice find as I nearly ignored the 'huit' call thinking Willow Warbler, Then it came up onto a dead tree and flicked its tail as they do and the ID was clinched. Total lack of success thereafter as it led me a merry dance.

Also about four Kestrels, a hundred or so Swallows getting the flies that were getting me and five Wheatear in the horses fields along with a flock of 80 Linnet.

Also found this which I'm not sure whether it's Moth or Insect. Good job Owl ID is easier.