Eviction update and daylight Barn Owl !

Having lost their spot in a roost tree to a Tawny, the "evicted" Long-eareds have only moved @ 25metres

They dont seem too put off and have been calling n displaying as usual at dusk.

A rare treat for us Up in Weardale, when we happened upon a day-time hunting Barn Owl !
by far the most difficult species to catch sight of across much of the County.

It landed in a tree and i managed a digi-binned record-ish shot!

The next field across held an old barn and obvious signs of who's occupying it  :-

 1,000's of pellets here - including several big fresh black ones
This site is moorland edge , at over 400 m / als, with pockets of snow in the shady dyke-backs - its pleasing to know Barn oels are still present after 2 previous bad snowy winters.

Rockin around the Christmas trees

A revisit to a Long-eared Owl roost in a plantation on the NW Durham Plateau near Lanchester produced 10 or 11 birds swaying around !

Heres a brief clip with 3 visible :-

An image showing 3 close by:-

A few images from inside the plantation - a different habo type to that which we have in the lowlands at home - its only a few miles away as the owl flies though.

There are several different compartments within the plantations here: 

Scots Pine, Mixed Woodland, natural re-generating Birch scrub, with blocks of Norway & Sitka Spruce with evidence of birds having been in Spruce sections but none located...

The Xmas / New Year period often sees roosts broken up with due to outdoor activities during the holidays 

Heres a few more images from this roost:-

Bit of a chore driving across there & very dodgy parking, but well worth it, even if photo opportunities are vimited.
Bonus birds including several each of Crossbill & Woodcock through the shelterbelts

Long roost up The Cheap Mans Well

Ventured up onto the Plain.....

Six months Winter & Six months bad weather in theses here parts...

Used to come up here regularly when i lived closer, round Lanchester, Sacriston, Langley
On the wilder days the numerous shelter-belts & plantations provided plenty of cover, & were more often than not a top coat warmer.

Back then the woods were still chock-a-block with Red Squirrel, the opencasts were still on the go & my travelling companions had 4 legs - A right odd couple. The Boxer was expert at sniffing out Woodcock, but in summer would often lie down & refuse to walk any further - resulting in a trek to the pay-phone to ring for a lift !  The cruelty-case lurcher was gentle as a lamb at home, but had a penchant for feather over fur.
It never did manage to catch a Jack Snipe, but feathers flew on one occasion.

So off up memory plain - it was clearly colder & far more windswept than my rose-coloured specs had allowed for.... off into the wood, out the way of the wind a bit

It certainly paid off - not only was i warmer but i was lucky to locate at least 8 roosting together - this one above wasnt too bad a picture considering the gloom & breeze

.

heres some various bodyparts:-

Not quite the heady days of the twenty odds we used to see roosting, but a very productive visit & nice to see them up a height rather than stuck in the thorn bushes closer to home.

Note to self :- 

Return Visit - wear more clothes, wait till the suns out, take a real camera & a maybe a dog or two.

At Ease

a roosting Long-eared in Elder, viewed from public footpath

Long-eareds Summer 2010

As previously mentioned, a very poor breeding year, but this youngster out & about a week or 2 ago near Durham

images by Dave.A

also recent sightings from Hamsterley area - hopefully a few more Nightjar visits will reveal further breeding success . . .