Short-eared Owls at Elmley Marshes

31st December 2021

Short-eared Owls have been fairly scarce this winter and have not appeared at many of their traditional haunts. However the one site where they have been building up in numbers is Elmley Marshes, so time for a visit.

Today the entrance track was very quiet except for a female Kestrel that was sitting very close-by on a post, although I did photograph it from my metal hide, so no stealth required here.

We then got into position for the Short-eared Owls and once again a female Kestrel caught our attention, but presumably a different individual and it was a long way from the first encounter. Why are so many Kestrels this tame?

And as a diversion from birds of prey, a male Stonechat was parading along the fence posts by the Old School building, but it was now time to turn our attentions to the Short-eared Owls which were hopefully roosting in the young tree plantation in front of us.

It is estimated that there are up to 11 individual on site, but difficult to be sure as in recent nights the inclement weather has restricted hunting. In the event a maximum of four birds emerged from the plantation, but most flew away and hunted along the edge of the salt-marsh, too far away for any decent photos. Luckily just one individual hunted briefly close to the plantation before departing allowing some shots in the beautiful sunshine.

Magical!!!!