14th January - North Wall, RSPB Pagham Harbour, West Sussex

After the disappointment of the poor weather yesterday I watched the weather forecast closely overnight.  Once again clear skies were possible in the morning and when I woke just before dawn it was clear and cold, but still.  However Pagham is thirty odd miles to the east and the weather conditions could be different.  However I decided to try once more and crossed my fingers that the sun would shine on me.

When I arrived at the bend in Rookery Lane the sun was still out.  I quickly kitted up and set off through Halsey's Farm, not stopping to see if the Redpoll were about.  As I crossed the field I could see the field was full of Brent Geese and the rife with Wigeon.  Up on the sea wall the light was perfect and this drake Wigeon reflecting nicely in the still water of the rife.

More Brent were dropping into the field.

Walking around the wall I could see some people looking into the same spot as yesterday.  As I got closer I could see one owl with the naked eye.  It was sitting in the bush we had located one yesterday with the thermal camera, clearly enjoying the sunshine.

The trick is to find a spot where the branches and are obscuring the least of the owl.

I walked on a little bit to see if I could get a better view, this is what I was looking at.

From this position the Long-eared Owl was looking at me, or to be a little more truthful it was head on.

The branches from this position though were quite a problem so I walked back to the original spot.  The wise old owl enjoying the sunshine, with just a glimpse of those orange eyes.

And then some movement, not sure what it was reacting too, maybe the geese calling.

A serious stare.

A ruffle of the feathers makes it look huge, but in reality they are quite scrawny under those stunning feathers.

Then more activity, some preening.

The ears, that are just feather tufts that aid with camouflage when the owl is disturbed.

I moved once again and captured this as the owl stopped preening and shook itself.

A shrieking call then went out and a Merlin came over the sea wall and flew out over the harbour diving in amongst the spooked Golden Plover.  I managed to watch it go across the harbour and wasn't successful in catching anything

Then back to the original place and the owl preened again, but stopped to react again to some noise.  This pose as an almost cat like appearance, the orange eyes so striking.

A closer view of the eyes.

A full frontal.

Back to a shake of the feathers and eyes wide open.

This is quite a comical photograph, did it taste something it didn't like.  It was trying to preen the feathers under the bill.

Its the facial disc and almost binocular vision that gives the owl its description of wise.  The fact that owls are nocturnal has given humans an unjustified suspicion of them, the reality is so different, Owls are not necessarily wise, but that doesn't stop us admiring them.

Another cat like pose.

While this shot gives off a very regal appearance, beard and a crown.

This is almost like a defensive pose, making itself big.

But it was never really concerned by the goings on that were happening on the north wall.

I went for a walk along the wall to the sluice looking for anything else.  Coming back the Spotted Redshank flew over calling and settled in a boggy part of the field on the other side of the wall.

But the morning was all about the Long-eared Owl, but by now the sun had gone in.  Th eOwl was still quite active and ruffling the feathers and staring across the reed bed

The Owl was quite active so I decided to take some video.

With the sky clouding over I decided to make my way back to the car, however a little further along there was a group looking into the bushes, I thought maybe they had found one of the other owls, but it turned out there was a female Sparrowhawk hiding behind the branches.

There were even more Wigeon on the waters of the rife.

And as I walked through Halsey's Farm one of the Redpoll flew up from the field into the tree I had seen them in yesterday.

After a successful morning I decided to go back into Hampshire for some year ticks.

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?