Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Oh Yes!! - a Short Eared Owl!

It was a lovely mild sunny day today -almost spring-like - so as I wasn't going on a hospital visit, I rushed through the domestic chores this morning, and went over to the RSPB Reserve at Middleton Lakes this afternoon.




There were plenty of blue and great tits plus a robin on the feeders and several grey herons (new species for the year) on nests in the herony. A walk through woodland revealed blackbirds and a chaffinch (new for the year) and lots of mallard on a small pool seen from the viewpoint.

Pheasants were seen in a field adjacent to the canal - another new species for the year. Don't you just love January with all those new year ticks!



There was a work party on one of the islands on the first pool as I entered the wetland part of the reserve so there wasn't a lot of birds about but I did see coot, mallard, tufted duck, mute swan and great crested grebe (new for year).



I know that Short-eared Owls have been seen again recently and as I scanned the bunds on the other side of the river I could make out a creamy coloured bird quartering. I shot over (well, squelched my way through the mud!) to the meadow trail to get better views and, oh yes, it was a Short-eared Owl! What a beautiful bird even if the views were rather distant! For me this is a new species for the Reserve, a year tick, a Warwickshire tick and a LIFER!

Sorry no photos of birds - I didn't take the camera today (lack of hides at the moment on the reserve mean the birds are often too far away). The photos above are from a previous visit last May - apologies to regular readers of the blog as I keep recycling these photos!

A drake smew has been seen on the reserve recently which would be another lifer for me but I didn't have time today to walk around the pools looking.

One other bird today to be added to the year list - a kestrel seen locally.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done on your first ever SEO, Caroline. Beautiful birds they are.

The Quacks of Life said...

jealous.......

Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens said...

Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Looks very restful and pretty.

Ragged Robin said...

Thanks for all your comments.

Dean - yes, what a beautiful owl. Time permitting and if they stay around I will return (with camera!)

Sorry, Pete :D

Graham - its a lovely place for a walk - worth a visit if you are nearby. There are several trails both on and off the reserve (woodland walks, wetland and meadow trials, bridlepaths and the canal towpath looks worth a visit too!)