Heather's Nature Notes: OWLS AND FINCHES

I usually visit my sister early in the year to do a bit of birding with her so yesterday we visited Eldernell, part of the Nene Washes reserve which has become well known for its roosting owls. After being a little delayed by road closures we arrived in the small car park at the end of Eldernell Lane. We could see a number of birders already walking along the bank armed with telescopes and cameras searching the hedgerows where short and long eared owls are often seen. However no one appeared to have located either species so far. We were, however, informed that a tawny owl was in its usual spot in the small copse on the other side of the ditch on the right hand sidel. we walked further along the bank but not knowing exactly where its usual spot was we stood and scanned the trees closest to us looking for a suitable hole. A couple of people joined us and said they'd been told to look near a concrete post of which there were two jutting out of the bank nearby. Realising we must be somewhere near the correct spot, we continued to search then as I looked deeper into the woo.d I suddenly spotted the owl tucked into in a hole in a dead tree clearly visible through a gap in the trees in front. Behind us other birders were setting up a telescope but I'm not sure if they were following our lenses or if they already knew the owl's position.

There are limits to the number of photos one can take of a motionless owl, so we retraced our steps and decided to take another look for a possible 'shortie'. Karen went down closer to the hedge whilst I stayed half way up the bank having read reports that some people object to birders getting too close to the owls. As she looked into the hedge there was sudden movement and a short eared owl flew out from the opposite side and across the field beyond and landed almost hidden with its back to us behind a clump of brambles. I could only just make out a mottled brown shape through my binoculars. We waited a while but the owl showed no intention of moving from that spot so we decided to return to the car as we had other places to go to, but I imagine that it would probably fly off again before too long, a pity we wouldn't be there to see it.

I like to visit Welney WWT once a year as it guarantees sightings of whooper swans and tree sparrow which are difficult for me to find elsewhere, although the swans can usually be seen in the fields on the approach to the centre. As we drove towards the Centre I noticed a little egret feeding in a ditch which would be have been a first of the year sighting for Karen but then saw a further egret in a distant field so we stopped the car to check its ID. Suddenly it stretched up and we realised that this second bird was not a little egret but a great white egret with its yellow bill. A year tick for both of us.

At Welney we soon found tree sparrows on the feeders and sat watching them while eating lunch in the restaurant. We crossed the bridge to the observatory where the wildfowl had just been fed so there were plenty of birds right outside the hides. Mostly pochard and but only a few whooper swans, as the others were probably out feeding in the fields at that time. We also saw plenty of other duck species i.e. pintail, mallards, gadwall, shovelers, shelducks, teal, wigeon and lots of black tailed godwit huddled together on an island together with a lone avocet.

After visiting a further hide where we were unable to add to our species total, we decided to move on again, this time to Lynford Arboretum to see if we could see any of the less common woodland birds.

We had been given suggestions where to find hawfinches and crossbills so followed the main track. On the way we stopped at a gate on the left hand side where a photographer was looking intently. We soon realised he was looking at a bird feeding station where at first I noticed a net full of fatballs which was being used by blue and great tits, then looked beyond it to a small pond. This was surrounded by dry leaves and on closer inspection I realised that there were a number of small birds pecking about on the ground almost camaflauged by the leaves. We could see chaffinches and then the bright yellow of a couple of yellow hammers. I also noticed one brambling amongst the chaffinches but something disturbed them all and they all disappeared. Not having seen a brambling yet this year I was pleased but it didn't seem keen to show itself again.

Walking onwards we came to a bridge over a small area of water on which there were some mallards, and beyond it was a small group of birders. They were looking at something in meadow next the track and told us they had just seen a hawfinch at the top of a tree before it flew off but were now looking at a group of about 20 redwings on the grass. Sadly the hawfinch did not reappear but we watched the redwings for a time. The light seemed to be fading in the overcast sky so we went back to the bridge where there were some feeders in a bush which were attracting various tits including a marsh tit. A small flock of siskins then flew noisily over us to land in the alders next to the stream. their yellowish green colour contrasting nicely with the catkins. Although we hadn't seen either hawfinches or crossbill, we decided there wasn't time to do much more walking so returned to the feeding station where I'd seen the brambling. After a short wait some chaffinches flew down in ones and twos to feed on the seed which had been scattered for them. Then some yellow hammers joined them and very quickly there seemed to be melee of little birds, amongst which we found at least half a dozen bramblings.

It was an enjoyable day out although in order to visit all three sites in one day, we had had to restrict the amount of time spent at each. Nevertheless I went home with another 9 birds seen for the first time this year.