Lazy pigs - Stuck on 69

69 pairs of Long-eared Owls have fledged a minimum of 160 young this season in VC66 (Co.Durham).

An impressive number of pairs, although not the best productivity with an average of 2.3 fledged per nest.
Durham Bird Clubs new County Recorder Andrew Kinghorn will be collating all this years data to forward to BTO and Rare Birds Breeding Panel.
Following the guidance notes from the latter, we also have a number of "probable" and "possible" pairs to add to the tally.

A few hardly souls are still trying, but I havnt been able to do much for a week or so - so we are stuck for the moment on 69.

Hopefully we will get a nice big fat round 70 to finish the season....

Lots of great owl images this year - this is one of my favourites :-

This male returning with prey, sits up in the open canopy of a stand of mature Ash on the edge of a Tawny Owl territory. This is the location I had him being harassed while hunting by a Buzzard. We think he's stopping off like this to check "the coast is clear"....? More often than not males just bee-line straight back & make a pass to females or direct to the larger young. 

One of mine - branched youngster in favoured Elderberry - downy body covering not too far away in colouration from the Elder blossom - a good spot to hide during the day.

A couple more from John Gardiner :-

Hiding in plain sight - very easy to walk past - superb camo

and the same bird a few weeks later :-

almost fully developed now - ear tufts growing in nicely.

A cracking image - despite being fully winged, its takes a while for the youngster to perfect the art of flight - they'll quite often choose an open area to roost, allowing easier access - as opposed to thick tangles the adults can get into with ease.

I have watched young "bounce" off Hawthorns springy outer foliage when trying to get in to land - its at this stage they'll prefer a more open perch in Elder, Ash or Birch for example.

Once they hone their flight skills they'll be able to get in & out of the thorn easier - making them a harder prospect to locate - in fact August / September are the times our Leos are seldom seen - roosting together quietly in family parties.

Well, theres time yet to enjoy the remainder of the breeding cycle before things go quiet for a month or two - fingers crossed for #70.

30th Jan 2010 - Full moon fever

30 Jan 2010
owls 3 - oystercatcher nil
Current run of good fortune coming to a halt - somehow managed to dip an Oik !
Consolation in the form of the 3 long winged ones.
A Woodcock flew close past mid afternoon, Short hunting against a snowy backdrop, later met with a.n.other & had good views of Long hunting in flight not long after 5pm, with BO not too much later. While owling we had several Snipe up & off & up & in. A Jack Snipe came in, peeling round in a tight arc before landing.

While scanning around we noticed a bright glow over the horizon - to the EAST.
What was this ? You'd think the sun was about to appear.
No, it was his mate the moon, rising up into view.
Ten mins later the biggest (well almost) brightest full moon was fully visible.
I turned the scope to have a look, the previous night we'd been looking at Mars . . .

Unbelievable !! A silhouetted shape was making its ways across the moon !

It was distant, but absolutely distinctive. A Barn Owl ! What an absolute fluke.

Hope the good run is picking back up . . . Oystercatcher over the garden tomorrow morning would do !

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Been a good week not only for the patch, but for owl info:-

Latest, Bumped into a bloke from Sherburn who tells me about the breeding Shorties hes been watching in Derwentside . . .

image of his eared Owl

hes been back on the Email again with the exact location & confirms breeding 2008 & 9. . .

And heres me thinking we'd found ALL our breeding Longies !!!

Also a message in from deepest darkest South Whineside re a regular BO hunting ground - no confirmed pair in that loc.

This is on top of the BO/SEO/LO i gleaned from 2 different gadges while rambling this last week.