Staying Local

With the Moors flooded and the Tame and Anker spilling over into the fields, I had to think about where to go this morning. Pete has some photographs he has taken of the Moors in flood, I will add them when he emails them to me.

I picked Pete up and we headed for Whitemoor Haye, hoping the roads were passable. They were, but the Trent was level with its Banks.

The bad news we discovered was the tree the Little Owls have favoured for years, had succumb to storm damage. The large right hand bough has completely sheared off.

Storm Damage

The good news was, that after a bit of searching, we located one Little Owl, so they are still using what remains of the tree. This also gave me a local year tick. I soon had my second year tick of the session in the form of Tree sparrows. Great looking little birds.

It was raining, dull and overcast and light values poor. The distance to the Little Owl was about 90 yards, so I just did the best I could in the conditions using my Spotting Scope and iPhone. Not great results, but decent record shots.

 

Yellowhammer. Difficult to get out in the open today.

Male Chaffinch

Yellowhammers were out in abundance with some large flocks flying from hedgerow to hedgerow, but apart from the odd Reed Bunting and Chaffinch, it was a quiet morning. Not complaining though, a good walk, good company, and two year ticks. Nothing to complain about there.

 

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