Tawny and Ivy

A few shots of a Tawny Owl snoozing in Ivy
Wingate area, Co.Durham

#

Also recent evidence of Barn Owl :-

and proof that THE largest Vole in the county has been captured
courtesy of Miss Joan Britchless :-

nice flight shot of Short-eared carrying prey, copyright of John Bridges, North East Wildlife -   northeastwildlife

Cut'n a Long story Short: Different Seo pic from DJ

Cut'n a Long story Short: Different Seo pic from DJ

http://www.djohnson.org/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0

Different Seo pic from DJ

In light of some recent talk of 'different' Short-eared pictures,

Hows about this one by Dave J :-

Short inspecting Ladybird larvae

Ive been owling, but havnt any decent pics, i have seen some perched up, but not as close as this one, again by the Master  ;-)

Arse end Asio's

Heres a good comparison with 2 pics of our two Asio's saying Adios

Short (JBridges)

and

Long (JScott)

A Little Lovin'

A class, flat calm, mild, sunny Durham day

Got finished quick sharp

& off to a country lane hoping for any one of the 5....

Little Owl straight off - within moments the male flew over calling in flight & his mate flew down to join him...

and within seconds he was on the job...

and just before the dismount :-

shortly 2 more watched calling from this same spot

a big bright moon this evening

5 Owl Day - 2012 Barn Owl at last !

Sunday 8th Jan

Didnt set out intentionally, but all 5 seen today

Found a pellet - looked up & we spied a Tawny 15' above us - the bairn was buzzing to see it so close
( sorry for the terrible camera phone image )

The next 3 fell easily & a stake out paid off nicely with my first 2012 Barn Owl after a 20 min wait.

Quite satisfying, but im wondering how on earth did i previously manage it in 37 minutes

Durham City Long

Re-visit - a Single bird on long reclaimed colliery site, Durham City.
It was a branch higher last visit & took a while before i saw it.

Tawny & Leo at Chester-le-Street

Tawny owls dont get much of a look in round my way
ten-a-penny, not really worth the effort etc etc
but there again it is the new year & i suppose we should make an effort

well i looked at 2 likely trees (both neck-breakers), & the 2nd paid dividends...
i suppose the quality of the effort is matched by the quality of the image.....

and its tree:-

tree image needs turning 90 degrees anti-clockwise - the owl pic doesnt, its looking down at us on a 80 degree angle !

Anyway its nice to get somewhere different & out of the wind
Heres a Long fella roosting in a traditional location nr Chester in a Blackthorn & Briar tangle:-

There were probably several more close by in a large Gorse clump, but this one was easy due to loads of whitewash beneath the roost & visible from way off.

(dont know why these pics are going on side-on ? )

4/5 on NYD

The first day of the new year was wet & windy, so it wasnt looking the best at the onset,
although by the end of day one after 11 hours & 22 miles on foot,  i'd managed 4 of the 5 local owl species, with 2Littles, a Tawny, a dozen or so Shorties & half that of Long fellas.

Barn Owl though is still eluding me, but i did manage a bonus of a ringtail Hen Harrier while checking a regular Barnie hunting area.


Heres a Long roosting openly close to home at Durham City :-

Somewhere to hide

We had a trip to our local Wildfowl & Wetlands Centre just down the road at Washington ( not the USA version, but the original one, the birthplace of George & his family ).

A pleasant walk round & whilst we didnt see any owls, we did see evidence of them in one of the main hides:-

 The Diego hide at Washington

 bench whitewashed & a large fresh pellet

Info notice - i dont go to many bird hides but i have seen some a lot messier than this one !