Monday 19 March 2012

Last few days:

Managed to sneak in a bit of birding over the last two days so brace yourself for a summary;

Sunday: Took mother dearest for a quick mothers day birdwatch down at Jubilee to show her the Oystercatchers - mumsy likes Oystercatchers. So do I, now I mention it. We also bagged Treecreeper (probable patch tick) at the far end before heading off to briefly see three Little Owl in deepest darkest Leicestershire before a death-shower "forced" a retreat home for the Leicester vs Chelsea match.

Today: Spent some time at Maidwell this afternoon after a presentation at Uni hoping for one last Short-Eared Owl sighting before they all bugger off being the inconsiderate migratory so and so's that they are! Hopes weren't high as reported sightings have been tailing off recently but I happily bagged two birds together and then a possible third hunting by itself later on a different part of the complex. This third bird also allowed a few dodgy photos;


This owl is actually watching a Skylark singing about 15ft above it, didn't even attempt to pursue it.


Finding this was also cool/disgusting in equal measure:

Passing this probably tickled a bit!
Besides the Owls there was a good selection of other goodies such as plentiful singing SkylarkYellowhammer, Meadow Pipit and a single Chiffchaff belting out its song from near the pond.
To finish a mini tour of a few Little Owl sites on the way home produced a total of 4 owls at 4 different sites, bonanza!



EDIT: one of my lecturers (Jeff Ollerton, reader in Biodiversity) has just started a Biodiversity (gasp) themed blog that I urge you to read as unlike this one it is likely to be informative, interesting and scientifically sound. A link to his site will be on my blog roll by the time you read this so get involved!


and also another to the Iplayer site for the recent series Bees, Butterflies and Blooms (Episode 2) that Jeff featured in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013pw23/episodes/guide - quick, only 4 days left to watch!

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