23rd December - Amberley Wild Brooks and the South West Corner of West Sussex

A sunny, still morning was forecast and for the last trip out Ian and I opted to try once again for the eagles at Amberley Wild Brooks outside the county lines in West Sussex.  Walking down the path towards the brooks, I didn't realise how cold it was, a north west wind was blowing across the flooded marsh taking the edge of whatever warmth there was in the winter sunshine.

Out on the brooks there were probably hundreds of Fallow Deer, the stags now without their antlers, they were scatted about in their harem groups.

Unfortunately clouds were building, making for quite a spectacular sky, but a sign that the bright conditions may not last too long.

The path was muddy and in places flooded with chalky white water.  Blue and Great Tits were in the bushes and a Robin used the fence post to watch out for anything we may kick up.

A scan across the marsh towards the river revealed three Red Kite on the river bank.  It looked like they were all immature birds with the paler brown plumage.  Two standing by  while one appeared to be eating something.

Ian was watching the kites while I turned back to look east.  I picked up a large bird gliding over the marsh without any wing beats.  I called to Ian, I knew what it was immediately.

It was distant, not the views we wanted, but much better than we have had before.  Once Ian goy on it he could see the large yellow bill, which stood out clearly.

I was able to follow it as it glided over, what seemed, the tree tops but in fact was the open marsh.  It passed a large house and headed towards the copse close by.  As it did so the white tail came into view.  This was an adult bird, more than likely one of the adults that has been successful in raising three young over the last two years.

As it banked towards the trees the wedge shape of the tail was visible as were the large broad wings and the yellow bill.

We then lost it as it went into the trees, did it perch up or did it keep on going, we weren't sure.

So it was back to scanning the marsh.  We had already seen Sparrowhawk and Kestrel and a couple of Marsh Harriers away in the distance and every time I picked up the binoculars to scan the area I would see a Red Kite.

One of the immature Red Kites seen earlier was perched on a post.

Another White-tailed Eagle was seen distantly over the south east corner of the brooks and we watch it as it glided west over the houses of Rackham Village.  A Peregrine was also seen perched at the top of a tree including two Red Kites.  The sixth raptor seen was Buzzard with several perched around the brooks

As we were discussing where else we could possibly go calls above us alerted me to a pair of Peregrine that surprised us by coming over our heads.  The male, the distinctly smaller bird calling as it was pursued by the female.

They flew away from us but came back around as they displayed called and grappled in the air over the marsh.  Here you can see once again the significant size difference of the female on the left.

And above

One of the many Red Kite that were circling above us.

They are becoming quite common today and here at Amberley there was several pairs out on the brooks, the Egyptian Goose.

Lunch was upon us and we were considering what to do next.  We drove through the village of Rackham to see if we could get a view of the brooks, but couldn't find anywhere suitable, so decided to head to the RSPB reserve at Pulborough, but unbelievably the reserve was fully closed.  So what could we do.  In the end we opted for a reserve on the way home in the south west of the county.  You will understand the reason for the full non disclosure of the location later.

On arriving the first thing we came across was a Kingfisher that showed really briefly before flying away.  Lapwing, wigeon and Teal were all present and there was also a few Black-tailed Godwits.  A big surprise was a Spotted Redshank feeding on a pool by the side of the path.  It showed well, but the conditions were now quite dull and overcast.

Reed Buntings and several Blue tits were feeding on the seeds from the Reed heads.

Being near the south coast there were large skeins of Brent Geese moving from the fields.  In amongst them were also a few Curlew.

It started off scanning the reeds by the path with the thermal imager for possibly Bearded Tit or maybe Water Rail.  But then Ian picked up an image in the middle of a Hawthorn bush that need investigation.  The image had some heat the shape of a body, but more distinctive were two warm spots close together.  We believed we had an owl roosting in the bush, but finding it with the naked eye was proving very difficult.

Several time Ian believed he could see it but getting a photograph to record it was proving even harder.  I couldn't see it but eventually using manual focus Ian was able to get a shot and it revealed an orange eye.  We had found one of the birding holy grails, the Long-eared Owl.

I was frustrated because I couldn't see it with my eyes let alone the camera, the suddenly a second owl burst from a bush next to the one we were searching and with it went the owl we had initially found.  Cue lots of Blackbird alarm calls and eventually Ian found an owl once again, buried deep in the hawthorn behind some reeds.  This time I managed to find it and subsequently got this shot.  A slight view of the diagnostic orange eye.

With perseverance and a lot of cursing I then managed a clearer view.  You can see the ear tufts raised as well.

We were trying all angles without managing anything better.  The light was failing and we were shooting around ISO 8000!  Eventually we decided to move, Ian though wanted to have one search with the thermal imager to see if he could find the second bird.  He did, but not one but two.  I can only assume the two birds we saw fly off were the two Ian had now found and the the bird we struggled to see, but eventually did had been there all the time.  The good news though was that of the two owls we had now found one was showing very well, but without the thermal imager we would probably not have seen it due to the incredible camouflage the Long-eared Owl has in the roost.

The Long-eared Owl has a preference for partiality semi-open habitats, particularly woodland edge, as they prefer to roost and nest within dense stands of wood but prefer to hunt over open ground. The long-eared owl is a somewhat specialised predator, focusing its diet almost entirely on small rodents, especially voles, which quite often compose most of their diet.  All owls do not build their own nests. In the case of the long-eared owl, it generally utilizes nests that are built by other animals, with a partiality in many regions for those built by corvids.  

Unlike many owls, long-eared owls are not strongly territorial or sedentary. They are partially migratory and, although owls appear to generally use the same migratory routes and wintering sites annually, can tend to appear so erratically that they are sometimes characterized as “nomadic”. Another fairly unique characteristic of this species is its partiality for regular roosts that are often shared by a number of long-eared owls at once.

The Long-eared Owl is also the most nocturnal of all the UK native owls, usually leaving roost to hunt well after dark

By moving again to get a better view I finally managed the best shot of the day.

We walked away with broad smiles on our face, neither of us expected this today, for Ian it was a lifer, for me a chance to catch up with an owl that is extremely difficult to see.  Also a reminder of my time in Essex and taking my young daughter to se these beautiful birds.

We managed acceptable views of White-tailed Eagles, but they can get better.  Amberley can be a raptor heaven and today showed why.  

All that is left to do is to wish all of you reading this blog A Very Merry Christmas