Shorties still in Cornwall for now!!!

Surprised when I went out to find three Short Eared Owls were still in the vicinty where they have been over-wintering. I thought they would of moved on by now, must be stormy weather keeping them here: Another surprise was some blue skies and good light for photography!!!!! So here are some of the images from a good couple of hours with these majestic birds.

Another visit to search for the Short Eared Owls

Although distant again it was fantastic to witness 3/4 shorties enjoying a succesful hunting period. The area seems to provide a plentiful supply of small rodents to enusre the owls are well fed. Occasionally a crow/raven/kestrel etc will try to steal the meal sometimes sucessful sometimes not. The SEO do defend their prey items against thieves but sometimes they are out manouvred.  These are fantastic birds to observe and hopefully they will return again later this year.

The wouldbe thief was chased off on this occasion

Stithians Southern Cut Off and Lands End

Well my first blog post for 2020, at last a sunny day which was most enjoyable. Unfortunately most of the images here were in poor light or at a distance. However they are still fine for web use. Firstly I spent a couple of hours at Stithians Southern Cut off, highlight here was a little grebe thrashing around a stickle back for about ten minutes, backlit by the low winter sunrise.  A few more of the local birds feature in the images. Then it was on to the countryside near Lands End for Short Eared Owls again they did not disappoint but were distant.

Great Spotted Woodpecker in the frosty grass

Little Grebe with stickleback

Chiff Chaff (I think)

Magpie

Jay

Long Tailed Tit

Short Eared Owl

Shorties squabbling over hunting grounds

Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl stands his ground protecting his prey from thieving corvids

Winter visitors, Short Eared Owls in Cornwall

My first look for Short Eared Owls (Asio Flammeus) this winter. Located on the hills of South West Cornwall I counted around six owls spread over a large area of heathland. As I said it was a large area so most shots are from a far distance with a lens reach of 750mm to 1100mm. Hopefully the owls will stay in the area as food supply(voles) seemed plentiful. Spent around three hours watching them hawking, and with some success capturing voles. There was also one pair in the distance that seemed to be wasting a lot of enery fighting over access to the plentiful food supply. So a good day hopefully more visits before the birds move on, Cornish weather permitting!!!!