Black Audi Birding: Back to the Owls 16th December 2024

Tuesday, 17 December 2024

Back to the Owls 16th December 2024

Last Saturday I kept a promise to myself and revisited that certain place in The Cotswolds where I had been fortunate to see some Short eared Owls last week see here.

However I was disappointed to draw a blank as no owls were flying over their favourite fields.Talking to another birder I discovered that they had been seen earlier in the day but now at 1000am on a sunny morning there was no sign of them..Presumably they were hunkered down in the fields of long coarse grass that is their winter home. I was further advised that they were unlikely to re-appear until mid afternoon.

I hung around for an hour or so harbouring a vague hope but my heart was not in it and I soon lost the will to persevere and left for home. However I vowed to return today, Monday and see if my luck would change.

Not having anything better to distract me I decided to make a day of it although aware the owls were unlikely to be around until mid afternoon. Short eared Owls are however unpredictable and I clung, totally unreaonably and without foundation, to the hope one or more might show themselves earlier.

Delayed by a minor problem at home I got there at 1030 and found that I was not alone in holding out hope that the owls might be up and about. Another fifteen cars were randomly scattered along the verges of the two lanes bordering the favoured fields but there was little sign of anyone just empty cars.

I parked in my usual spot on the verge of the quieter lane where it intersected with the other busier lane which appeared to be a link between two larger roads judging by the traffic passing along it.

Looking up the busier lane I could see one other photographer moving rapidly up the lane towards an owl flying around by a drystone wall that marked the far end of the field. I caught up with the unknown photographer and we made a five minute walk up the lane to the top end of the field, both of us fearing the obvious that the owl would have disappeared by the time we got there. All went well however as the owl stalled in mid air and pitched into the grass right by the road, which at this time of the day was thankfully relatively quiet.

We walked as close as we dared to the owl as it stood in the grass.Had it caught a vole? Getting closer it looked like it had missed its intended victim but remained in the grass looking around for a minute or two. Owls when they fail like this always adopt a look of complete surprise on their face as if they can hardly believe the vole has escaped their clutches

Where did that vole go?

The owl took off and flew in a familiar languid flight to a nearby dry stone wall and posed beautifully on top of the wall in perfect sunlight. We both made the most of this unexpected opportunity and took some pictures, well quite a few in fact!

The owl remained on the wall for a few minutes and then took to the air only to be instantly mobbed by a Carrion Crow. It flew down the field, passing us and parallel to the lane, before dropping into the grass and that was it. I could not find it in the grass, even with my bins as no doubt it was secreted well out of the cold southwest wind behind a tussock .

Well that was an unexpected bonus and buoyed by this success we stood about waiting for more and hoping but as often happens no more action came our way. We walked down the lane and leaving my new found friend I turned right to walk along my favourite quieter lane, finding other photographers stood by another wall overlooking the fields.I hadn't the heart to tell them that they were in the wrong place and what they had missed but their presence explained the cars but no people that I had noted earlier. I walked to the end of the lane and turned right again for a short stretch and then right once more onto a footpath that led across the top of the fields and eventually took me back to where I had first seen the owl. I discovered yet more photographers scanning the fields from the footpath as I passed along it.

Sadly no owls were to be seen anywhere.A Raven put in its customary appearance, announcing its presence by 'cronking' as it flew high over the fields and a flock of Rooks, scattered like black rags on the wind. Three Fieldfares, moving west, chackered in alarm high in the grey sky, the sun now but a memory.

I walked back to my car and chatted to my photographer friend who told me he came here from Somerset frequently and turned out to be a mine of local knowledge and information. He was on good terms with the farmer who is paid to keep the fields free of chemicals, which means the voles thrive. He told me that after I had left on Saturday the farmer had counted 64 cars here in the afternoon! This location is becoming ever more well known, some say notorious and I do not know why I keep it a secret as the genie is well out of the bottle, so if anyone wishes to know, it is near a village called Hawling. Google Owls and Hawling and you will find all the information you require. I would not recommend weekends.

Even more concerning the photographer told me a friend of his who came here on Sunday last had seen no owls at all despite staying all day. I was also informed that the owls are favouring the fields either side of the busier lane this year.It is information such as this that is crucial for success as before I had always assumed the quieter lane was the best location to see the owls.

After our chat I decided to go to my car and sit in the warm out of the wind which was now increasingly strong and cold, the fields being at quite a high and exposed elevation..

The hours passed slowly as I listened to the radio in the car which was positioned so I was able to check the fields with my bins without having to leave the car. Three hours passed and I was saying to myself as birders do in such situations

'Let's give it another half an hour Ewan and then go'

Or is just me?

I had noticed from noon onwards an increasing number of cars were arriving with birders/photographers and parking in the passing places along the busier lane.Not a good idea in my opinion and by so doing generating plenty of potential to upset the locals.They could always park in the quieter lane and walk.It really is not that far.

Two thirty arrived and I decided on no more half hour extensions, opting to make one final walk up and down the lane before heading for home. I had some nice images after all from this morning's lucky encounter. I got out of the car and checked the field to my right and there, at the top, as earlier this morning was the distinctive profile of a flying Short eared Owl.

At last!

I hurried up the lane passing other owl enthusiasts who seemed not to have noticed the flying owl, being engrossed in looking out over another field to their left. I got to the top of the lane and stationed myself on the narrow verge, perilously close to the tarmac and fast moving passing cars but needs must.

The busy lane for the moment traffic free.The owls were hunting over the
fields either side and in some cases crossed the lane

Owls now seemed to be everywhere on either side of the lane, flying both near and distant over the fields.

Like great moths they floated across the fields, every so often rising in the sky to conduct regular disputes with other owls, the harsh cries of their displeasure at finding another of their kind encroaching on their airspace sounding loud and clearly in the cold air, two sometimes three regularly interacting, flying with supreme grace and speed, aerobatically talon grappling with one another.

The owls not only had to contend with confrontations with their own kind but with kestrels and crows.The former in particular aggressively trying to mug any owl that had caught a vole. One kestrel right in front of me successfully attacked and grappled with an owl which relinquished its vole prey and fled.I have seen kestrels do this to Barn Owls but never knew they would tackle a larger owl such as these Short eared Owls

For an hour it was Short eared Owl mania before the light became too dull for photos.The owls continued their hunting and foregoing the camera I watched, enthralled through my bins, as up to six Short eared Owls quartered the fields.