'stoatally avoiding me

Once again the suite of 3 owls showed last night as reported by my brother Dave, M Robinson and R Hobbs.

The customary Friday 5 o'clock finish allowed me to get to the pools in good light with lots of time to spare today.
A small gathering at the cycle track viewpoint mentioned that the long-eared had been giving excellent views but had disappeared somewhere into the wooded path toward Marsh Point. By the time I got up there it was sat on the fence in full view. It then put on a stunning show which had it make its way increasingly closer - moving from riverside fencepost to fencepost allowing for detailed scrutiny of every feather on its body! Absolutely astonishing.
It eventually made its way off up the marsh and disappeared from view having been flushed by a walker.
Next up was the barn owl which started off hunting behind the Keyline buildings before flying around the pool edges and also showing itself off pretty well. There was no sign of the short-eared owl.
A minor distraction came in the form of a green sandpiper on the pools plus 2 pair of gadwall and 2 pair of 'new-in' tufted duck.
I chatted to a couple from Leeds who had come to witness the owl event of the century and they had also seen the resident ermine stoat, which seems to be seen by all and sundry yet remains to be seen by me!
Following PJMs sighting of one at Heysham earlier this week and a report I received of one at Lancaster Golf Club recently this surely has to be the highest number of ermine's recording in the local area in such a short period? Could they have moulted rapidly in response to the recent snowfall?

Owls about that then... (again)

Quick post-work dash.
Arrived to find A Draper, M Prestwood, T Walkington & J Girdley by Freeman's Pools. The long-eared had been showing earlier.
Headed up to the top of the pools where 2 green sandpiper were feeding.
Met S Wallis who shortly picked up the short-eared sat on a fence where it remained until it was pretty dark. On the way back what was almost certainly a LEO flew low across the water parallel with us on the cycle track.

Owl-less, brief visit

Long-eared seen Monday at 4.30pm - thanks to Ian Hartley for the record.

Despite getting a soaking on my way home and it being rather windy I couldn't resist that fact that I had about half an hour of decentish light left and headed down to the pools where I bumped into Guy. He'd been there around 40 minutes and hadn't seen anything. A woodcock came over but we saw no owls - hardly surprising given the conditions! Mind you, a tawny owl was hooting from Freeman's Wood...

Having seen some photos from Sunday afternoon/evening it would appear that only long-eared was on show - can anyone who was there confirm whether short-eared was definitely seen?

Owl sightings request...

Hi - couldn't make it down this evening but will try and see what's going on if any nights are relatively bright and dry this week.
With that in mind, could I ask that visitors to Freeman's Pools post their sightings on the LDBWS website or at least email them to me at the address on this blog.
Ta!

And on that note...

I'd be very interested to hear which species of owl were definitely seen yesterday (Sunday) by the many birders at Freeman's Pools.

When I arrived at around 4.30pm I was told that the short-eared had been showing very well and had passed within a couple of metres of the mini crowd!
This was followed by a long-eared which was also seen well at the Marsh point end of the pools.
As far as I know there were no sightings of barn owl.

Could any of the gathered birders (especially those photographing the birds) present yesterday please confirm which species were showing from the cycle track viewing area prior to my arrival.

I'd also love to see any pics, if that's OK,

Ta!

Jon

Asio like it

Had a quick trawl around the patch starting off via Leighton Drive where the waxwing was showing well in its favourite rowan.
I then went past Admiralty Wood where one of the resident little owls was having a snooze - nearby a group of 50ish redwing were in Pony Wood. Great spotted woodpecker here also.
A spotted redshank was feeding in the pools at Snipe Bog and a couple of little egret were on the opposite side of the river.
A flock of 16 pied wagtails and 19 meadow pipit were joined by a pair of reed bunting on The Flood. The wags and mipits were presumably early passage birds.
Around 700 pinkfeet were on Aldcliffe Marsh.
Just one long-eared owl visible at the roost today.
A male shoveler was 'new-in' on Freeman's Pools, as were all the other usual suspects.

Of note: Heard some interesting gossip from a regular dog-walker recently - apparently one of the wildfowlers was saying that they were looking into access for shooting on Freeman's Pools. Now that the shooting season is over at least it shouldn't really be of concern until the autumn.

JC

*Also, 2 male Stonechats on the back fence by the banking.
See Barn owl from last night, link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nry5AWN5Eo0
Stevew

Late breaking news... Sunday evening

4 male stonechats on Freeman's Pools fence (Marsh Point end).
Short-eared owl showed early on giving the crowds by the cycle track a good demo while a long-eared performed later, though exceptionally well in good light (catching a vole) at the Marsh Point end. No sign of barn owl.

JC

Thanks to Dan H for today's blog title.