A family birthday party at Rico’s together with a surfeit of red wine and garlic infused food probably isn’t the best preparation for a good night’s sleep so I wisely cried off the planned 5am ringing for a bit of a lie in and a little birding at a civilised time.
I made the mistake of setting off in a mist that I thought was clearing. Wrong. Slowly, and in the hope of killing time until the sky brightened, I drove around Moss Edge in the hope of seeing the Barn Owl in the mizzle, which I did fleetingly as just a ghostly grey apparition before it wisely returned to the barn it inhabits. The Little Owl was in residence at the two trees corner, sat in the box entrance as normal but the mist was so dense and light so poor a photograph was out of the question. I’d seen and heard ghostly Lapwings still displaying in the gloom and Grey Partridge calling but nothing else of note until I emerged at Crimbles Lane to a Kestrel sat atop the roadside fence.
Barn Owl by Stuart Piner
Little Owl at “Owl Corner”
With headlights on and heated seat warming my bottom I decided to head for CG and sit out the mist, at least there would be something to see once the sun broke through. I could have sworn that this morning that sign read “Road liable to fogging”.
The Famous Conder Green
Through the gloom at Conder Green I made out the odds and ends of the customary fare: 4 Shelduck, 6 Tufted Duck, 5 Wigeon, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Moorhen, 18 Teal and 1 Grey Heron. I saw a single Reed Bunting singing and also a Meadow Pipits displaying alongside the creek. Waders came in at 1 Spotted Redshank, 15 Redshank, 3 Curlew and about 12 Oystercatchers, most of the latter still debating which pair should occupy the small island in the coming weeks. The blue sky in the picture is most definitely not from this morning, but by the time I was nearly home the mist did clear to reveal a bright if not completely azure sky.
Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher on "The Island"
Grey Heron
I made the mistake of setting off in a mist that I thought was clearing. Wrong. Slowly, and in the hope of killing time until the sky brightened, I drove around Moss Edge in the hope of seeing the Barn Owl in the mizzle, which I did fleetingly as just a ghostly grey apparition before it wisely returned to the barn it inhabits. The Little Owl was in residence at the two trees corner, sat in the box entrance as normal but the mist was so dense and light so poor a photograph was out of the question. I’d seen and heard ghostly Lapwings still displaying in the gloom and Grey Partridge calling but nothing else of note until I emerged at Crimbles Lane to a Kestrel sat atop the roadside fence.
With headlights on and heated seat warming my bottom I decided to head for CG and sit out the mist, at least there would be something to see once the sun broke through. I could have sworn that this morning that sign read “Road liable to fogging”.
Through the gloom at Conder Green I made out the odds and ends of the customary fare: 4 Shelduck, 6 Tufted Duck, 5 Wigeon, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Moorhen, 18 Teal and 1 Grey Heron. I saw a single Reed Bunting singing and also a Meadow Pipits displaying alongside the creek. Waders came in at 1 Spotted Redshank, 15 Redshank, 3 Curlew and about 12 Oystercatchers, most of the latter still debating which pair should occupy the small island in the coming weeks. The blue sky in the picture is most definitely not from this morning, but by the time I was nearly home the mist did clear to reveal a bright if not completely azure sky.
Brill blog. Love your pics and entertaining trips out.
ReplyDeleteI did the lie in thing also Sunday morn...our low temps and drizzle are not healthy for cameras.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, thanks for visiting me also!
I LOVE owls
ReplyDelete