Today there seems to have been a movement of Short Eared Owls. Firstly there was one reported near Falcutt. I have to confess that I have never heard of this place and had to look it up. It is a small hamlet in the south of the county near Helmdon. It was always my intention to visit Harrington Airfield but it was mid morning by the time I got there. I spent a couple of hours there zig zagging about and slowly meandering through the bushes around the bunkers and it was here that I flushed 2 Short Eared Owls sitting together. They then flew over me and headed towards bunker 3. I continued my wandering around and as I approached bunker 1 a Short Eared Owl got up and flew low towards bunker 2 where I again accidentally flushed it. I'm pretty certain that this was a third bird. Other birds seen on my visit were 4 Stonechats, a Woodcock and 15 Golden Plovers. One Short Eared Owl was seen by others late afternoon and also a Merlin.
My first bird of the day was a Green Sandpiper near the flooded brook below Hanging Houghton. I then headed off towards Blueberry and had a good look around the area. There was a Woodcock in one of the favourite hedgerows for this bird and a pair of Stonechat. Plenty of winter thrushes around and several Bramblings going over. This afternoon I was heading towards Blueberry from the Brampton Valley Way and came across a Short Eared Owl. By the time I got back home I had bumped into Barn, Little and Tawny Owl !!
Other birds reported today include Ruff, Golden Plovers and Egyptian Goose at Summer Leys, 6 Cattle Egrets and Bittern at Stanwick GP, Caspian Gull, 2 Dunlin and 2 Stonechats at Hollowell Reservoir and a flock of Golden Plovers at Hinton in the Hedges Airfield.
Regards Eleanor
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| Robin courtesy of John Tilly. |
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| Red-legged Partridge courtesy of Tony Stanford. |
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