Aedan had a Duke of Edinburgh meeting tonight, so Ciara and I had a couple of hours to kill after we’d dropped him off. I did consider going for a stroll to see if the osprey are back yet, but then there was quite a lot of hail and heavy rain and I decided not. Instead, we went for a drive along the back road at the end of the bay and parked up with a view over the whole of the marshes and estuary. It would have been a good idea to have planned this, so that I could have taken the binoculars, but I hadn’t, it was spur of the moment.
I could barely contain my excitement when we spotted a short-eared owl, quartering along one of the burns that runs into the bay. I was beside myself when we spotted the second! We watched them for an hour and half, they both came close passed the car on a couple of occasions and gave us fantastic views of their markings and amazing eyes. We think they were a pair, they had contact that, whilst it wasn’t obviously friendly, they didn’t make any real effort for one to see the other off and were at times quite close together.
I loved it! An amazing experience. But next time, I’ll go prepared.
(Some Guide Leader I am…)
You'd love Fulbourn fen near us then.
ReplyDeleteThey have had a breeding pair of Short Eared Owls there, although they are hard to spot.
Also some Kites and recently a Peregrine Falcon.
I am not a big bird fan myself, but predator birds are good.
I remember being followed by vultures on the GR10 near the East Coast many years ago. You could hear them whispering.
'Fall you bugger, go on."
Funny thing was, I was expecting to spot osprey fishing, but I did know the owls could be there too. I do like a bit of birdwatching, or actually any kind of wildlife, but birds of prey are just outstanding.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure, many years ago, there would have been barely a meal for those vultures ;-)
Spot on Louise. He could feed a family of five for weeks these days...
ReplyDeleteHe'll soon be losing some flab as he'll be scaling some Lake District peaks next week on the PreWalkDaunder...
Sounds like fun! Steer clear of any barbed wire Alan.
ReplyDeleteHe'll soon be losing some flab as he'll be scaling some Lake District peaks next week on the PreWalkDaunder...
ReplyDeleteCheeky Bugger!
Anyway at the moment, the whole trip is only about 15K, I do that on a Saturday Run!
Ok, I admit, no hills!
I shall of course share out the Malt with my friends :)
He's one to talk, eh Andrew, tsk!!
ReplyDeleteIt's 18.2km, actually with 1000m of uppishness. And I might just extend it a bit now...
ReplyDeleteI'll 'ave you know, the belly has almost gone. Strict exercising and walking and hardly any beer has sorted it.
I'll fill it back up in the OldDungeonGhyll bar.
I'm not one to talk either! My trousers are perhaps not quite as snug as when I set out last year, there's hope for me yet.
ReplyDeleteTrust me - if you had taken your camera, you would NOT have seen so much as a starling.
ReplyDeleteToo true Carl! Tonight, nowt but pink footed geese, shelducks and sea gulls. Hmmph.
ReplyDelete