Barn Owl from North wall, Pagham.

Yesterday saw me on a very sunny evening on the North Wall and whilst walking to Owl Copse to see how the breeding herons were coming along I suddenly became aware of a very distant Barn Owl at the far end of the fields adjacent to Honer farm. Unfortunately it was far to far away for any good photos but on one occasion it did hunt over the fields the other side of the Breech Pool and I took a chance and fired off a few shots....

No close up views and heavily cropped but really good to capture as I haven't seen a Barn Owl for some time and these were taken between 6.15 and 7.15pm....i.e. early evening (must have hungry young nearby)

Little else of interest but Black Tailed Godwits were feeding near to the sluice gate.

 In flight showed the black tail...nicely.

As I write this blog today it is raining and we need rain and so do the farmers...the place is parched.

A week in wales

Having recently returned from a week in Wales its time to sort out a few holiday highlights. For a start the weather was very much in our favour with wall to wall sunshine every day with temperatures rising to 22C on one day....quite amazing for Wales!!
We soon settled into a magnificent completely renovated 'Arts and Crafts' Grade11 listed building in Elan Village backing onto the RSPB Carngafallt Reserve within the Elan Valley.
All the expected species were mostly, right on our doorstop with a non stop chorus from  Redstarts,Pied Flycatchers,Wood Warblers, Garden Warblers and Blackcaps,Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers.. The River Elan held Dippers and the occasional Goosanders .  Red Kites soared above the woods.
So here's a taster...from in and around the area.

Redstarts...the stars of the show for me!

The duller female...hard at work,nest building.

Pied Flycatchers...another fabulous birds of the Welsh Woods

Preening time. 

...and Dippers, constantly on the move.

An unexpected but rather distant Mandarin.

 Nesting Nuthatches...

                  

...and Great Tits

A wary Coal Tit

A Wren watching my every move.

Willow Warbler

Great Spotted woodpecker examining a very large ant hill.

The RSPB Ynshir reserve was about an hour and a half away and there were numerous nest boxes, some occupied by Pied Flycatchers.

On the marshes an unexpected Red Breasted Goose...

...but we learnt later that it had been loitering in the area for several years!

Many breeding Canada geese...

An Osprey nesting in Dyfi...distant but worth a visit to the Dyfi Osprey Project at the Cors Dyfi Wildlife Centre

...and then on to Bylch Nant yr Arian to follow the Barcud Trail for Kites galore!

Flying upside down!

Supporting cast....

House Martin

Nest building.

Meadow Pipit

Bird of the moorland...Whinchat

Fly me to the moon, Raven.

On the way home we stopped at the Cotswold Wildlife Park and enjoyed a family of Great Crested Grebes...enjoy!

Thank you for looking...back to Pagham now!!

Pagham and Pulborough.

Coming?

A quick visit to the North Wall this morning was filled with the song of Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers, a few Cetti,s and a Whitethroat....photographs very limited as they were mostly very well hidden.
This Reed Bunting suddenly appeared right next to me in a hawthorn bush but even he was hiding!

As usual the Herons and Egrets were not only active but very noisy at their nest site in the bushes.

Shelducks were feeding on the harbour mud....

It was good to see this hare in the field

An Egret with prey by the sluice gate

A Blackbird drinking from a bucket in the horse paddock 

Magpie on post

Pretty uneventful but the sound of Spring in the air was a joy!!

Earlier in the week I visited Pulborough Brooks and again the birds were well hidden but the song of Garden Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats were more numerous than I remember in previous years but the big disappointment was the lack of Nightingales...the real reason for my visit. Only one was heard and the view along 'Adder Alley' was very limited.

Distant Garden Warbler

Lesser Whitethroat

Several parties of Long Tailed Tits were on the move but best of all was this  Kestrel that posed for several photographs by the West Mead hide.

So where are the Nightingales?

Post Script....

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