Saturday 17 October 2009

Prestwick Carr Owls

This evening the choice was between following the Toon or owl hunting at Prestwick Carr - made the correct choice for once.
I had been to PC earlier in the week at dusk hoping to catch sight of the Short-eared Owls, and was not disappointed as two of them flew in front of the car as I approached the cross roads. Then I was privileged to watch three of them for about 45minutes before the light went.
Tonight I arrived a bit earlier hoping that they might appear when there was still some decent light and maybe capture a photo. However with the setting sun I had managed to spot only Buzzard, Kestrel and Roe Deer. The light was just about gone when I spotted the first Short-eared in the North East corner of the field heading my way. Then almost immediately a Barn Owl appeared from the South West Corner into the same area and both went off to the left. So I hot footed it after them and when I turned around there were four Short-eared hunting in the field across the road. A quick look back across the road confirmed the Barn owl was still busy in the other field.
Unfortunately the light lasted only another 10 minutes and I lost sight of them.
No usable pics I'm afraid but a great result! for me, if not for the other lot.

2 comments:

PCF said...

Glad you got a good sighting of both owls and confirmation of the four birds. Should be plenty of opportunities for photos in good light as the birds are forced to hunt in daylight.

Citybirding said...

Thanks. They really left it late and was amazing how they just seem to appear from nowhere.