In Search of Owls at Shingle Street - 18/12/2016

With several web sites broadcasting news of SHORT-EARED OWLS around the Shingle Street area I decided to go over and have a look. Shingle street is a tiny hamlet built on the shingle ridge many miles from anywhere, and in the cool mist of today it was bleak.

The shingle ridge was populated by these weird Triffid type plants

As a land lubber I couldn't resist a quick look ate the sea the hamlet looks out to. Several RED-THROATED DIVERS were present, though mainly in flight; also present were a COMMON SCOTER and a SEAL which is always good to see.
To look for the owls I tried the rough grassland that lay behind the hamlet. This area was intensly grazed by sheep and was therefore of not much interest to birds, especially not owls. Small birds were present in small numbers with a flock of 15 YELLOWHAMMERS, a pair and a single STONECHAT, and a beautiful KINGFISHER flew down one of the ditches that border the fields.

Out where the grassland met the shingle ridge there was a flock of approx. 30 non-descript finches I reckon to be TWITE. These are a form of finch from the uplands of Scotland which winter on lowland marshes in East Anglia. And sill no owls...
And lo! just as we were driving off there was a SHORT-EARED OWL quartering the fields and back gardens of Shingle Street.

 

 

The quality of the photos aren't great, but it was a misty day and the bird was far away and mobile. But a great bird and worth the trip out. Nothing describes the wilderness of winter Suffolk better than the SHORT-EARED OWL.

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