Saturday, February 19, 2011

Dusk...

On my way to drop Jane off at Amble at 5.30pm this evening, we were commenting on the large congregation of pre-roost Jackdaws and Rooks, about 500+ or more, when an owl showed up coming along the roadside.

At first glance I expected it to be a Barn Owl, then it showed up brown against the trees. The shorter wings and jizz immediately eliminated short-eared owl, and as we got closer it was more apparent that this was indeed a Long Eared Owl. Coming out of Amble too!  It soon flipped over the hedge and disappeared along the river side. No doubt this is a bird heading back to its Scandinavian breeding grounds and its been held up by these strong SE winds and rain...

If only it had been at Howick.

2 comments:

Stevie Evans said...

right time, not quite right place, a nice chance encounter.

This may sound like a long shot Stewart, but these birds quite often follow a regular route as they set out to hunt... given the time you saw it, a repeat performance may well be possible.

abbey meadows said...

Nice record Stew. I had to make a comment as I couldn't resist the word verification 'paryletic'