More about Owls

Last year there was a great influx of short-eared Owls and they overwintered in many parts of Britain including the Adur Valley where we seemed to have anything up to half a dozen through most of the winter months.  I saw three in the air at once on one occasion and it seemed to be impossible not to see one during a stroll up the riverbank.  This invasion was not repeated this year and I have seen few owls of any sort until today.  Almost the first bird I saw as a glanced out over the meadows was a Barn owl.  It had just taken off from a tree and it methodically quartered the fields below Bramber Castle before heading over the river and away.  I saw it, or another individual twice more during my walk and then I thought, a fourth time as I entered the meadow by Upper Beeding church.  I quickly realised that it was not another Barn Owl, but a Short-eared Owl and I spent some time watching it working its way back and forth across the field.  Eventually it dropped down and remained hidden from view in the long grass for several minutes, emerging to rest on a tall tussock, presumably to digest its catch a little before taking to the air again.  

The muddy conditions must be deterring dog walkers at present as there have been fewer than normal about recently.  This must make it easier for the owls to hunt these usually busy areas.

Pulborough Brooks RSPB Reserve

The main attraction of a visit to the RSPB reserve at Pulborough Brooks at this time of year is usually to see the flocks of wildfowl, but the outstanding feature today was a very good view of five bullfinches feeding on the buds of hawthorn and blackthorn.  There were three males with their stunning pink breasts and black and white head markings and two somewhat less glamorous females.  The usual view of a bullfinch is a white rump disappearing over a hedge or skulking in the top of a tree, so this was a rare treat.  Another bird that gave a long, uninterrupted audience at close range was a goldcrest, almost within the close-focus distance of my binoculars, moving around in the hedge and also posing between the spars of a five-bar gate.