Shorty, Barnie & Hobby

 Bootiful down them marshes me dear

 Short-eared Owl in the R.Yare valley.

 Hobby blast along behind the owl

dot of a Hobby LHS below fencing

Barnie didn't appear till the light was going - one of the Hobbies shot past me 10' away & headed straight at the Barnie who dipped a wing to take evasive action..

Lots of Tawnies , Littles & Barnies down in Norfolk

- some of the areas look perfect for Long-eared.....will have to come back earlier next year

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.

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 !

Mix of pics LEO, LO, BO

Image from Plawsworth at dusk from DK; Two of the young Long-eareds we ringed earlier in the year, getting ready for a night out. Ring visible on this stretching bird - a right old daddy long-legs hes turned out to be !

One of this years young Barn Owls outside his roost, checking for the all clear before setting out at dusk.

adult Little Owl on a limestone cliff.

once upon a time thousands of years ago....

Heres a very long range picture of a local Barn Owl sitting asleep outside the entrance to his roost hole

                                                               here its............................ ^


When we were covered in trees however many thousand years ago, the distribution & abundance of our Barn owls must have been different, surely very limited in range & numbers.....

I remember reading ( & cant find the book, nevermind the paragraph & reference ! ) that Limestone Cliffs & Caves are the birds natural home.
The images taken last summer illustrate just how well the birds blend in with the similarly coloured limestone

We are on the edge of the Durham Magnesium Limestone Plateau here at home, just below the escarpment. This broken ridge has numerous quarries & sand pits, sometimes used by Barn Owls.

Some of these locations are actively being worked for stone, others have been abandoned for decades.

Even in this supposedly enlightened age, some are infilled, being used as rubbish dumps & moto-X bikes, thankfully other have classifications & sometimes nature reserves - more so for their very specialised flowers & plants, rather than birds.

Habitats unique to the Durham Magnesian Limestone Natural Area, magnesian limestone grassland and the coastal denes have a rich variety of wildlife, supporting 13 nationally scarce plants and 84 nationally scarce invertebrates. Magnesian limestone grassland species include Northern Brown Argus, Glow-worm and Dark-red Helleborine. These species, along with the Barn Owl, are all priority species in the Durham Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).

http://www.durhambiodiversity.org.uk/MMWhy1.htm

Box work - 28 Sept 2010

Met some nice folk today

An invitation to help assist with a Barnie box as part of piece being filmed for BBC Countryfile

Later we continued with aour local Dipper box project
Note the makeshift bridge.....

Boxing

Some prepping up for next phase of Barnie boxes . . .
This entailed 3 of us hand-balling 4 big numb telegraph poles onto the truck.

2 delivered to our fellow owl enthusiasts at the University of Durham & the other 2 to Durham Wildlife Trust HQ to be used for pole mounted Barn Owl boxes. - hopefully they should be out of harms way up on these - although the way things have been going perhaps we should daub some tar & apply some wire half way up . . .

recent image from a local prowler.

We endured, sorry, thats enjoyed ;-) a further indoor meeting with DWT officials to finalise arrangements.


Good job we had some big strong young men from the bird club to give it a bit heave-ho (i mean with the poles, not the trusts staff !)


Another project we aim to implement with DWT is an organised viewing opportunity for roosting Long-eareds - this will hopefully go some way to counter some of the problems these birds experience over the winter months.


In the afternoon we erected new boxes in local study areas, with evidence of Barn & Little owl having been present.

Another very positive owl day & good team effort.
 
ps.
its a good job we got those poles yestday . . .as overnight someone has chored the truck tailgate whilst parked outside my front door !
 
 
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misc & random addition :-
 

in a forgotten corner of the yard the farmer has been establishing a new Typha bed

Barn owl youngsters

A pleasant evening sesh

Watched young Barn Owls around the nest site, also a couple of pairs of  Little Owls with young

As the light was going, the begging calls were too much of a temptation for a Fox as it attempted to get to Barn & Little owl nest sites, both with young in & around their cavities.

Short Clip of fledged Barnie
not sure which one will work best

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFQ1OKv1tD0


click here:- Barnie clip ewe chube

Barn owl - second clutches on the way

male taking food to his mate now brooding second clutch of eggs, as well as continuing to feed his well grown young.

This would appear to be the case in the south of the County, at a well known location, where the female has gone under the radar, when chicks are close to fledge.

This bodes well & will help bolster numbers after winter losses

All Nighter 31st June / 1st July - BO-vs-LEO

The bairn was a'bed early on, so out in good time.

Went to have a look at the new Long-eared site in the Wear
i drove up the bank with window wound down
could hear the young bird calling close to the road.

Only parking was a bit gateway a good way up the bank top
as i strolled back down, a large brown shape appeared - a Buzzard carrying prey

the unseen adult Long-eared let out a loud alarm call as it approached & the youngster fell silent,
as the Buzzard landed close by.
i stayed tucked in the dyke back, still a good way off & out of sight - but evern after 20 mins the juv never called again.

this wait did pay dividends though with brief views of a Hobby - ive seen more of this species in Durham in the last 2 years as i have in the last 20.

Further down the valley another spot held a beggging youngster
The estate must have gone into some kind of agri-environ scheme as the grazing densities are absolutely minimal

Looks like these 2 new Leo pairs have been quick to take advantage - there was no sign of them over the last few year.

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Highlights
Park & Ride, D'ham City: - Barn owl hunting adjacent & Badger foraging on paths on edge of car park 22:30

pr of Roe Deer standing in the road at first light & 2 Fox over the roads during the night.

Barn owls with young on the wing at a couple of spots early this morning, seems to be a good year.

This is 4-6 weeks earlier than usual & bodes well


& the Lowlights
checked 12 regular Long-eared owl pair last night in a Derwentside stronghold, (plus drive-by speculative checks) revealing only 2 sets with young !!!

They seem to be having an even worse season than 2009 ( which was the poorest i can recall )

A poor year, but there are some young Long-ears out there . . .

image of a Derwentside youngster by David Kay.

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This seems an odd situation to say the least & is highlighted in the site with "side by side "Barnie & Longie

The Barn owl is an absolute machine, in & out with prey non stop -
the Long-eared with its young 15m away only managing 4 items an hour at best.

Both birds hunting over the same ground / habo

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Young Barn owl "doing" Garden Knome

Watched it 20 mins & it never recieved a food item despite begging - both the adults were taking prey in for its younger siblings still in the nest chamber.

Eventually it saw me & fluttered closer

couple of bits down still on its head

here it contemplates a flight . . .

& off he goes . . .

Light side of the moon / Barnie

a Big Moon

Barn owl catching items every few mins in an area of natural regen on the woodland edge
obvious & eyecatching here, white on green . . .

not quiet so obvious . . .
plumage merges perfectly against the Limestone

even with white facial disc on show, the bird still blends in with its surroundings.

Limestone caves, cliffs & craggs being one of the species natural homes before man began building barns !


Short Vid showing nervous adult leaving the nest chamber . . .
3 fox cubs below had all 4 pairs of Little Owls up in arms, making a right racket



Young growing well, adults making the most of the good weather, bringing in prey items every few mins.

It didnt get dark, the sun was replaced by a big bright moon, casting my shadow - it felt someone else was walking alongside.

An evenings Peace & quiet - The World Cups GR8 !

For some unknown reason many "Birders" seen to switch off come June.

How come ?

They obviously dont realise Its by far THE best month to be out & about.


Having the World (football) Cup on the TV on an evening is an added Godsend

Makes an evenings birding sheer bliss.

Hardly a sole to be seen nor a noise to be heard,
no scum, no moto-X-ers, no bounding dogs, no guns.



Tommy Noddy - hes gorra grit big heed & little body

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Watch football on TV on a flat calm June evening - no thanks

Support England in the World - i was intending to . . .

We had a Union Flag in the front winda - but ive took it down & wiped my @rse on it.

Theyre like the rest of the Country - Style & Hype over Substance & Effort - a f@ckin laughing stock.

IF you are priveledged enough to be playing for your Country & you cannot even be arsed to sing your National Anthem then f@ck you & f@ck off.

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Highlights of a tour of the local patch last night revealed :-

Barn, Little, Tawny & Long-eared Owls

Quail, Cuckoo, Green Woodpecker

Woodcock, Red legged Partridge, Grasshopper Warbler

Roe Buck, Hare, Fox, Noctule Bats

and Peace & Quiet.



set up to watch Little Owls,
only to find the Barnies have moved to a new nest hole this year.
In & out with prey every 5 mins.

The Littles bill clacking when he landed too close, & going beserk when a Fox ran up what appeared to be a vertical rock wall.



i Wonder what score it is . . . ?

Couple of jars

We went West towards the end of the day.



Barnie I

Chanced upon this Barn Owl just outside his large Ash cavity.
Timed it perfectly, as we scoped from range, he wing stretched, gradually becoming more alert, taking in the movement & sounds around him, before treating us to a fly past as he went out to hunt.


Barnie II
Easy pickings at present.
Tractors & trailers rushed through fields taking the first cut of silage off as the dark sky loomed & a rumble of thunder echoed down from further up the dale.



Didnt see a car on this quiet road, unfortunately this Pheasant poult had.

We had a brief drive round, with a fine female Merlin dashing across in front of us, landing on a rock.
Other bits & bobs included Tree Pipit, Grey Partridge, Curlew, Garden Warbler, Snipe, Redstart, Woodcock.
A distant Cuckoo on top of a plantation could be heard clearly over a great distance in the calm quiet moorland evening & a juvvy Stonechat zipped into its roost.
A few heavy spots of rain never came to much,
so it was on to the main course . . .

Last visit had drawn a complete blank,
not a sniff from a Nightjar

We were up the forest in good time for the 20 min walk up the hill to the Goatsucker site
a couple of Woodcock had set out on their strange roding flights high over the canopy heading out across the open rushy ground.
3 good size leverets raced along in front of us showing us the way.

As the evening grew quieter, we moved Heel & toe along the stoney forest road.
Woodcock were all around
As we approached the largest forest clearing at @ 21:45, expecting a 10-15 min wait,
we were simply gob-smacked to see a stunning male Nightjar fly up from feet away from the edge of the roadway, floating away, only to veer round a Spruce, relanding on a log yards away !

Amazing !

We had a Nighjar within our sights & it was on the deck in good light ! (another of this years challenges safely out of the way !)

( before any eyebrows raise at what appears to be a "flushed" Schedule 1 breeder - we we had our feet firmly on the hard track when the bird sprang up ;-) )

Words dont seem to be enough to describe the next hour or so

Lots of close range fly-bys, including a good look at the female too
male churring openly at least 6 times


Male Nightjar churring
Very animated as he sang, realy chucking his head about & flicking his tail open as he momentarily paused between bursts.

Excellent watching his flutter into position whilst landing
( hand held digi-scoped doesnt do it justice - it was still decent light )

Certainly my best Nightjar encounter & The Herons "best ever UK views".

19 Jan 2010 - Barn Owls & Snow

A few recent reports of Barn Owls hunting over the snowy western side of Durham . . .



pic by Davy Johnson.

We're waiting for the white stuff to clear up a bit, before we get on with the nextbatch of boxes.

Pic below from Derek The Finch showing a bird with prey



it dived through that deep snow to catch its prize.

A couple of new BO pairs have come to light up there recently, with Mr Gavsterley locating a pair hunting yestday afternoon close to moorland edge @ 250/300 m/asl.
These are faring okay, but what above those further way out west & a lot higher up . . .
We found a Barnie roosting late in 2008 at 460m/asl (the highest elevated county record to date) - it made it through a couple of weeks of snow cover last year - not sure how it will have managed since mid December though . . .

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NB: Heres a link to todays article from national Barn Owl expert Colin Shawyer

http://www.bocn.org/news

13th Jan 2010 - 90 species

13th Jan
W.R Stables Farm
Not much luck in finding many bunting flocks, but the farmyard held 40Yellowhammer, 2Reed Bunting, 10Chaffinch, 1Siskin, 15Blackbird, 2Song Thrush, 2Mistle Thrush, 2Kestrel, fSparrowhawk, 3Willow Tit, 3Woodcock,


Missile Turd

a large mixed flock of 220+ Goldfinch, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, 1-2Mealy Redpoll - covering a lot of ground, they headed East towards The Highfield. A smaller group were nr RMs car park later on. 20+Magpie, 5Grey Partridge, 1Skylark, Stoat & Weasel.

Coalfields area
all pools still iced up, several Woodcocks including feeding birds at pools 2 & 4. Pool2 - 1Short-eared Owl, 16Fieldfare, 2Redwing, mixed flock of 80 Redpoll & Goldfinch.

death


1 recently dead Coot in damp woodland.


ChMoor
2pr Wigeon, 1(!)Lapwing, 15Teal including birds displaying, & many gulls on flood water including 1 2nd winter Med Gull.

NZ34
Walk round the nether regions of the patch.
Barn Owl hunting midday nt long after the sleety rain had stopped.
3 Shorties roosting together in their favoured hedge.


digi-binned shot of wary bird

Pair of Long-eareds roosting not too far from the path.
Managed to see a Little Owl at the entrance to his box - theyre really keeping a low profile in this wintry weather.

Med & Mealie take me up to 90 species on foot within the local patch.

Still looking out for:-
Corn Bunt
Marsh Tit
Green Woodpecker
Brambling
Merlin
Peregrine
YLGull
Golden Plover
Crossbill
Shelduck
Red Kite
GCGrebe
Shoveller
Chiffchaff . . . .