Two Short-eared and One Barn Owl on Bramber Brooks

A late afternoon walk across Bramber Brooks and there was a Barn Owl and two Short-eared Owls busy hunting, flying back and forth and clashing a little when they got too close - although no actual contact.  At one point the Barn Owl disturbed a bird among some rushes which flew straight up to a height of about 2 metres and dropped back down again.  Longish legs, big feet and a longish beak - Water Rail?  It was such a brief glimpse that I could not be sure.

I got a better view of a Sparrowhawk. It cruised towards me very low along the side of a hedge as I stood on the riverbank, diverted to cross the pond and then flipped over the river to disappear below the bank.  Good views also of a Kestrel, but a flock of small birds was more problematic.  At least three Reed Buntings, eight others were more difficult to identify with any certainty.  Altogether 25 species.

Adur Valley

We took our usual short walk along the bank of the River Adur above the White Bridge this afternoon.  This was the first time since November that we have not seen Fieldfares or Redwings. They long ago exhausted berries in the hedgerows and had been feeding in the meadows, but today there were none to be seen anywhere.  But there were plenty of other birds to see.  We had good views of a Barn Owl, mainly working the fields below Stretham Manor. There were two Ravens on the top of a pylon which made a very peculiar noise, presumably some sort of an alarm call, when a lady with a Great Dane walked past on the footpath below.  Also high up on the pylons were 29 Cormorants with more arriving as we walked home. There are nothing like the numbers that I have seen in colder winters, but that is quite a respectable number.

In the river a male Mute Swan vigorously saw off some rivals and Songthrushes, Wrens Great tits and Robins were all heard singing.  A pair of  Herons seemed to be on friendly terms and it was almost possible to imagine that spring was just around the corner.

Sussex Ornithological Society Conference

The SOS Annual Conference was held yesterday in Haywards Heath and Clair Hall was packed with enthusiastic birders to hear talks by Neil Gartshore on Poole Harbour, Colin Shawyer on Barn Owl conservation, Dr. Stephen Baillie on BirdTrack and Nigel Redman on African birds.  Many of us were there to pick up our copy of The Birds of Sussex which has just been published.  It quite exceeded my expectations. It is enormous, beautifully produced, full of wonderful photographs, detailed accounts of every species on the Sussex list, distribution maps and information about habitats.  It is an essential read for everyone interested in Sussex wildlife and is going to be useful source of reference for years to come.
Colin Shawyer is the leading light of Barn Owl conservation in the UK and gave us a fascinating update.  The number of breeding pairs has risen from a low nationwide of 3,800 to a present level of around 9,000.  The main reason for this recovery has been the increase in the use of artificial nest boxes; apparently 75% of pairs use them.  Much of the decline was due to loss of nesting sites through the change in use of agricultural buildings, but 30% of owls used old Elm trees as nest sites and these all disappeared long ago.  The other factor has been the loss of tussocky grass habitat and through his efforts, some has been reinstated.  Barn Owl numbers fluctuate with the Short-tailed field vole population.  I expect they will be down locally with the flooding that we have had.  I have hardly seen one this winter.
Dr Stephen Baillie is Director of Science at the British Trust for Ornithology and described changes to BirdTrack, including collaboration with other countries.  Work is underway with eBird in the US and other initiatives are planned.  It explained much about the use of BirdTrack data and impressed upon us the need to submit complete lists (which I usually do), not just the special birds, or earliest sightings.
In the lunch break I nipped out for a walk around the park and saw eight Siskins in an Alder tree.  I will be entering them on BirdTrack as a 'Roving Record' after I have finished this.

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.