If you're wondering why I haven't posted anything on here since September, it's mostly down to this winter's frankly miserable weather. Yesterday, last night and this morning were just about as bad as it's been, so when the rain stopped and the sun came out this afternoon, it was a more-than-welcome change. I guess the local barn owl must be a bit more fed up than me, as they find it nearly impossible to hunt in the rain, so with a break in the weather this afternoon it came out early to hunt. Lynn, who lives in the farm house, popped into the shop to tell me she had seen it down by the old chicken coop, adding it had completely ignored her while she was working. So I took my chance, fully expecting it to have disappeared already or would at least take flight when it saw me, but fortunately I crept up in just the right place where I was slightly hidden behind a patch of brambles, and I managed to get some nice photos. Eventually it took off to search somewhere else and I wandered back up to the shop happy as larry.
Hopefully we'll have some more dry, bright weather so the barn owls will be able to feed and I will be able to get outside with the camera a bit more!
Rare birds have been hard to come by this winter, with the usual thrushes around, but no winter visiting finches on the feeders yet. We spotted a red kite briefly early on in January, at least one kestrel has been taking interest in the usual nesting spot in the church tower, but the resident buzzards have been quiet (again probably because of the weather).
It's the
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch near the end of the month. We'll be taking part as usual, so let's hope for something interesting!
