Southease with a plan!

 Well after the disappointment of yesterday's aborted trip to Dungeness because of work issues, I was at Bexhill when the call came😢, I decided to go and look for some Owls! There had been reports of both Barn Owls and Shorties at Southease, most of the reports are from the evening but I figured if there are Owls there in the evening there would be Owls there in the morning!! This would have the added bonus that there wouldn't be the crowds of Photographers and Birders there either!! The trick of course would be to get there early enough, the problem, Margie had to go to work, drop off at seven , therefore not getting to Southease until twenty past!! Now Margie could walk to work, it's not that far, but she gave me the old puppy eyes, think there might have even been a tear in one.😢 my trouble is I'm just too nice😂 (Margie would like to state at this point that she offered to walk and that my previous statement is a bare-faced lie and that I shouldn't blame her because I'm to lazy to get out of bed!!)😲

So I arrive at Southease at 7.20, get kitted up and walk out across the railway line, in the field  beyond the first hedge I get a glimpse of  a white bird, doing Owl like things, however I've been hurt before by Gulls/Egrets/Plastic Bags so I hold fire until I get to the bridge and head North up the East side, scanning the fields where the bird was seen soon gets me on a Barn Owl, hurrah!!! I love it when a plan comes together, however the bird stayed stubbornly distant and with the grey cloudy weather the pictures were always going to be pants!!

Barn Owl

Unfortunately it disappeared fairly soon after and despite scanning with the bins continuously, I couldn't refind it or any others 😢 So plan only partially successful!

I walked along the river, heading north, it was fairly quiet though a couple of Redshanks made plenty of noise and nice to see a Common Sandpiper shoot across the river, the main action was Pipits, loads of em, mainly chasing each other or avoiding me. They were also several feisty Pied Wagtails  which were chasing everything including each other, although I thought the one taking on the Common Sandpiper was fairly optimistic!!

Redshank

The scenery is pretty nice here!

Grey Wagtail

Meadow Pipit

Common Sandpiper

Pied Wagtail

Common Sandpiper

Herring Gull

Black-headed Gull

I got back to the bridge, pretty knackered!! But as it was still early I decided to have a little wander South, more Pipits and Wagtails along here, a couple of Stonechats, a Reed Bunting, a big group of Black-headed Gulls, scanned them in the hope of a Med Gull or something better but no luck! Had great views of a Cetti's Warbler, but was so surprised I didn't get a pic!! Nice to see a small group of Lapwing which were strung out along the bank.

Redshank

Meadow Pipit, exceptionally difficult to get pics off these today!! 

Lapwing flying across the river

Lapwing

Redshank

Reed Bunting

Meadow Pipit

Southease Bridge

Lapwing

I headed back to the Station, a Song Thrush was singing atop a Hawthorn Bush, I'd heard a couple but nice to see one out in the open, It didn't even flinch when a train went past!!

Song Thrush

A dull grey day, nice to see a Barn Owl. Would have liked a bit of sunshine but there you go, 5 plus miles walked, a difficult day for photography so apologies for the picture quality!