Andy and I had no luck with catching Linnets today. A couple of times we had two and three Linnets in the catching zone but being greedy guys we chose not to release the net but to wait for a bigger catch of five or six or more. This proved a mistake, more so when the 30/40 Linnets that had been around for a couple of hours moved on elsewhere.
We made do with the intermittent birding which other than the usual frustration with the Linnets' shyness, proved very entertaining.
A Barn Owl played “chicken” with local traffic a couple of times when it flew across the road in the face of incoming vehicles. Luckily, the probable local drivers slowed down once they saw the regular owl fence hopping ahead of their vehicle.
Barn Owl
There's a pair of Stonechat which stick close together on their tour of fenceposts that line the ditch. They searched the rank grass and moved through the hedgerow alongside the field ditch where a couple of Little Egrets occasionally showed. Along the hedge were a female Reed Bunting and a single Wren. Let's hope the Stonechats stay to nest once they successfully negotiate and remaining cold weather.
Stonechat
Barn Owl
We watched the owl dive into the grass on at least three occasions hoping to see it rise carrying a meal and although we didn't see any catch it's unlikely it would go long without a kill.
Skylarks have been noticeable for a week or more and today we had one within inches of being in the catch zone of the whoosh net. Quite suddenly a Merlin was attracted in by the activity of the Linnet flock and Skylarks overhead as it shot like a low bullet through the area, out over the ditch and across the nearby field towards the sea wall 250 yards away.
The Merlin is pretty scarce nowadays but a super sight of any bird watching trip and guaranteed to inject excitement into the most mundane of days.
Merlin by @Greg Lavaty
Skylark
Almost certainly we will catch a Skylark or two in the coming weeks.
Barn Owl
Definitely a few Linnets, and maybe a Stonechat, but we don't expect to see a Merlin or a Barn Owl in our whoosh net any time soon.
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