An Afternoon with the Short-eared Owls

17th January 2025

News was starting to emerge that Short-eared Owls were hunting over some set-a-side fields by Holwell Crematorium, and some locals said that they have been there since Christmas. It's not particularly surprising they were not discovered earlier as the field where they are hunting is by a dead-end road with no through traffic. So far up to three birds have been seen so time for a visit.

Fortunately it is possible to park past the crematorium and therefore not interfere with their proceedings and as 2pm approached, the time the owls normally start flying. more and more cars arrived but were all able to park sensibly in the laybys at the bottom and top of the hill. As it has been quite a while since Short-eared Owls have been present during the winter in Hertfordshire, many of the people arriving were local Herts birders and the afternoon was fast becoming a great social event, a re-union.

The good news was that the low cloud was dispersing to reveal a blue sky, so all we needed now was an owl or two. Unfortunately that didn't happen immediately and by the time the owls did decide to leave their roost it was cloudy again with poor light levels. However, time to make the most of it and try and grab some shots. The first approach was above the sky-line which makes focussing easier but can wash out the colours a little.

These were a bit better.

And now a couple with a vegetation backgound showing the beautiful colouration of these owls.

Then sit back and enjoy the flying display, just half an hour from your doorstep.

Well, just how good was that? Today there were four birds present as at one point three could be seen in the air at the same time to the north of the road with a single bird perched up on a post on the south side. There was one altercation between two birds but very short-lived and very close to the road making photography difficult. 

And then after all that action time for a rest to digest all those voles.

So what about the poor light? Well on this occasion it was a blessing in disguise. The reason is that the closest owls were on the south side of the road, and if the sun had been out you would have been shooting into the sun and not achieved the same results. So don't always be critical of the poor light, as sometimes it can act in your favour.

Our Wintering Male Blackcap

16th January 2025

Still confined to barracks waiting for this seemingly neverending gloom to lift so that I can get out and visit some of my favourite sites with the camera. I keep my eye on the feeders with are still attracting good numbers of Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches and up to six Ring-necked Parakeets. We have had up to 14 Greenfinches which is a great sign after their number were decimated by the disease Trichomonosis but would appear to be making a comeback.

Then out of the apple tree popped our wintering male Blackcap and started to feed on the sunflower hearts. They are of course normally insect-eaters, but in the middle of January you can't be fussy. Apologies in advancefor the quality of the photos but they were taken through glass at ISO-5000.

More Hawfinches at Bramfield Church

9th January 2025

Well Christmas has come and gone, holidays are over, so time for a quick visit to Bramfield on a beautiful sunny day to see what was going on. There were a few people in the churchyard and a couple of Hawfinches had been seen, so just need to settle down and wait.

It wasn't long before one bird broke cover and perched just out of view on the edge of a Yew. Eventually it started manoeuvring to the edge of the tree and had a look round.

It eventually spotted me and had an inquistive look!!!!

This was followed by a period of good views and luckily all in good light.

As said previously it was a lovely sunny day but also many areas of shade in the Yews, but fortunately the birds seemed to be enjoying a bit of warmth and keeping to the sunny parts.

For once the cold weather seemed to pay dividends.

Also good to meet Ashley Cox.

A Ring-necked Duck at Abberton Reservoir

29th December 2024

After a most successful morning on East Mersea, time to pop in to Abberton to see what was around. At the Layer de la Haye causeway the regular "Rocky" the pipit was on show strutting along the water's edge, and must be the most photographed pipit in Essex.

The only other passerine of note was a male Stonechat which luckily was quite confiding.

Goldeneye and Goosander numbers are still incredibly low compared to the 1960s when I started coming to Abberton, and I suspect this is in part due to climate change as many other winter visitors are also down in numbers. Matt Taylor from BBC Weather says that we now get three weeks less frost each winter than we did 50 years ago!!!

 

The only wader representatives today were singleton Redshank and Green Sandpiper.

Now on to Gwen's Hide for the grebes. There were just two Black-necked Grebes in view, at least at a reasonable distance, although never together.

Eventually the Slavonian Grebe also put in an appearance.

Over the years I have photographed many Black-necked and Slavonian Grebes, but today was the first time I have managed to get both in one shot!!!!

However, the star of the show today was a drake Ring-necked Duck which was only found during the morning. Although it was on full show from the Layer de la Haye causeway it had been asleep for the last three hours.

It was only during one of those mysterious moments  when a perceived threat causes hundreds of ducks to swim purposefully away from the bank that it woke up to see what was going on, long enough for a couple of shots. Here it is in the company of a female Pochard.

Well, that was unexpected!!!