13th January - North Wall, RSPB Pagham Harbour, Hampshire

I had a dentist appointment first thing, but it was over quickly and I was able to meet Ian at Pagham.  This was the first time we had been able to return since the start of the year.  The worst kept secret is that there are at least three Long-eared Owls roosting in scrub along the North Wall.  IOan and I found them just after Christmas and in the interests of keeping it quiet we didn't post locations, just somewhere in South West Sussex.  But the news has leaked, albeit not on any Bird News sites, but sufficiently well enough for the world and his wife to know.

Early morning the sun was out but as I arrived the cloud rolled in and it was decidedly cold as I made my way towards Halsey Farm.  This is a walk I have done many times, but it was nice to find a flock of about twenty Redpolls in a small tree just by the gate to the footpath.

Once upon a time I would have called this a Lesser Redpoll, but today all three species have been lumped together, so now it is just a Redpoll.

Something else that was different was the walk across the fields to the north wall footpath.  In days gone by it was a wet and muddy trek at this time of year, but it would appear that the RSPB have invested some money and built a stone path all the way across, no more need for wellies.  I have seen many a white trainer ruined going through those fields.

I met Ian on the path and he was watching a Kestrel hovering over the field.

I was surprised to see it hovering in the cold weather, in these conditions they like to conserve energy and very quickly it gave up and found a suitable perch from which to scan the fields.

Another surprise in the fields was a group of ten Barnacle Geese.

Once on the North Wall it didn't take long to locate the Long-eared Owls, there was a group of people looking down into the scrub behind the reeds.  Both Ian and I strangely felt a little put out that everyone knew about our Owls, but I suppose it is good that others get to enjoy them.  

With the lack of sun and a cold wind one was showing but was down low just below the reeds.  I found it with the thermal to start with, but was able to get a clear shot.

THings never really got any better, the owl stay put and hardly moved, this was the best I was able to get during the visit.

We did managed to locate two others, both of which stood out with the thermal camera and interestingly were in pretty much the same place as where we had found them after Christmas.  But all we could see with the binoculars were the feathers ruffling in the breeze.

We left the owls and walked along the wall path.  A group of Wigeon were below, the drake looking very smart.

It was high tide and out on the marsh you could hear the calls of Golden Plover, we estimated at least a couple of hundred Golden Plover roosting on the available dry land.

We walked to the sluice in hope of finding the Kingfisher, but there was no luck.  All of a sudden there was the sound of Brent Geese calling and hundreds appears away to the west, coming off the fields to settle on the water of the harbour.

A nice grouping.

Then the Golden Plover and Lapwing were spooked and flew around above our heads.

Walking back, where there were Wigeon earlier there were Teal now, a drake close in.

We stopped to see if there was any clearer a view of the owl, but there wasn't.  The Black-tailed Godwits started to fly from the fields back to the mud of the harbour as the tide began to fall.

The Barnacle Geese were still in the field so we decided to walk around the footpath to see if we could get a closer view.  Using the hedge as a screen we were able to get closer.although they didn't seem to mind.

As we edged around the hedgerow it became clear that three of the geese had neck collars and we could read the letters and numbers.  Apparently these were ringed in Yorkshire, Saltburn to be exact.  Their providence is not known and there acceptance of us as we walked past probably means these are feral wanders.

 

The Curlew though that were feeding with the geese were not happy with us and flew off.

The Barnacles watch us closely as we walked past but never panicked.

The path went through the farmyard, a Stock Dove was calling from the tops of the trees.

The Redpolls were not about, we waited to see if they would appear, but they stayed away.  They were here for the seed from the left over rapeseed, but in amongst the the dead plants was a Roe Deer.

And that was it for the day, we drove around to the Quay for lunch then made the way home.  It didn't turn out to be the day forecast and this kept the owls from showing well, so would conditions be better tomorrow?