Owl hunt on the Patch!

 Having survived the Christmas festivities more or less intact, despite eating my body weight in homemade Organic Christmas Cake😲🎂 and with the offspring returned to their various abodes thoughts turned to getting out and  doing some birding, However the Christmas weather seems against this with persistent rain/drizzle and high winds the order of the day😢! A brief respite in the weather yesterday afternoon decided me on an Owl hunt, I figured the aforementioned weather would have meant any Owls in the area would have been prevented from feeding and like myself would take advantage of  the break in the atrocious conditions to get out and do some hunting! My local patch off the Albourne road has a couple of areas that I've always thought looked good for Owls and discussions with various locals I've bumped into on my walks seem to confirm it with reports of Owls seen in the past. 

I arrived at the parking place at about 3.20pm, was not looking particularly promising with cloudy skies and everything looking very wet, traversed the first field without incident despite the treacherous conditions underfoot, the only bird sighting of interest a Buzzard sat in a small tree, which did at least give me a flypast.

Buzzard in a Tree

Yes I know atrocious pictures, had to lighten them, usual excuse, gloomy conditions and operator incompetence😀!!

Ignoring the Glades which would have been a mud bath, I turned left at the crossroads and headed up the hill, atop the hill is a broken down barn which has Little Owl written all over it, but despite giving it a ferocious scanning I couldn't find one, not that much of a surprise done the same thing many times before without success!! At this point the path splits in two, turn right and it goes down the hill towards the Vineyard or carry straight on and it goes down the hill to the Golf Course, either way brings me out on the long run of rough grassland that looked excellent Owl habitat, just at different ends.

At this point a Stonechat appeared at the head of the right hand path, now I'm not superstitious, but I've seen enough Lassie films to know when an animal wants you to follow them😲!! It was clearly a sign from the Birding Gods to follow the Stonechat to Owlmegddon!! So I did, and to give it, it's due, it posed quite nicely in the low sunlight!!

Follow Me!

I followed the bird down the hill, noticing that the water-logged field next to the path was alive with Pied Wagtails at least 30 birds running about over it, unfortunately they were quite distant and were the wrong side of the light so pics were difficult!!

Pied Wagtail

I had reached ,what I have optimistically named the Owl Field, the Stonechat had mysteriously disappeared!!  The area of grassland runs into the distance before turning at right angles and running up to the Golf Course, it has thick hedges on either side, in order to give myself the best view each way I decided to leave the path and walk a couple of hundred yards along the hedge and make a stand where I could see both areas, ,there was no fence and I followed an obvious track, so broke no new ground, although technically I'm not a 100% sure it's an official footpath😏!

In general I'm a wander around kind of Birder, walking around an area to see what I can find, but there is merit in occasionally just standing in one spot to see what comes by. I became one with the hedge, was a few sightings of interest, a small flock of Tits came into the hedge to roost, various flyovers from Blackbirds and Song Thrushes , a large flock of Pied Wagtails flew over heading to roost, presumably the ones from the field, a flock of Redwing flew over, Corvids and Pigeons also flew into the trees to roost, I heard a Green Woodpecker somewhere behind me. So in tune with the hedge was I that a Robin landed on a branch a couple of feet away and started to sing before realising I was there and flying away with an indignant squawk😲!! 

So the light started to fade, no Owls appeared, it got darker and darker to the point where pics could no longer be taken and still  no Owls appeared 😢 with the thought about trying to cross muddy, slippery fields in the dark, I decided to call it quits and head back to the car, nothing to do with the fact it was getting a bit spooky😱😱

Spooky!!

I headed back up the hill, the sunset was trying it's best but didn't amount to much!!

At the top of the hill I gave the derelict Barn another quick going over, with no success, as I turned away in the far distance I heard the call of a Tawny Owl!! Or was it just wishful thinking!!! Pretty sure it was one to be fair, though it didn't repeat!! 

No Owls sightings for me, though nice to get out and about, To be honest I think the area I am looking in, while on the face of it looks good habitat, it is pretty much like an oasis in the desert, surrounded by large empty fields, a highly manicured Golf Course and a Vineyard with all the chemical use that entails so maybe it flatters to deceive. I will try the other area in my next visit!!

The moral of the story is never trust a Stonechat, their Lying B&**#@&*ds!!!😁😁😁😁 although in their defence they do pose well!!