Short Eared Owls - Local Area

On Monday after work I headed out for a few hours to see if much wildlife was about (actually hoping for an owl!) as I pulled up in the car there were two Short Eared Owls. I spent about 2 hours amused watching the pair flying around together and perching themselves on tree stubs etc. One disappeared for a short amount of time then flew straight over my head!

Here are some quick shots...

The two owls flying around (not the greatest pic!)

Can you see him!? (below)

Local area: Sparrowhawk, Water Rail, Squirrel etc

Instead of heading to Wales again, I decided to stay local with having a few things to do! Around lunchtime I popped round to see my elderly grandad who will soon be 95! He has a great garden full of wildlife. There's a male and female Sparrowhawk who visit his garden usually picking up the left over, half eaten Wood Pigeons which we think are brought into the garden by a fox. Along with Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robin, 10+ Black Bird, Fieldfare has been around recently scaring all the black birds away, Carrion Crow, 4 Jays, Feral Pigeon's - nice mix of colours, Wood Pigeon (alive as well!) etc.
Today a nice female Sparrowhawk was there with dark bars on the underbody.

Around 2pm I went off to Burton marshes, saw some Waxwings on Chester Road. 

Arrived at Burton, saw a lot of Coots around and then a Water Rail appeared out, I haven't seen one of these around Burton yet, so a first for me.

Grey Squirrel, I know there common but I can never resist taking a photo!

Saw these two again... (below) Canada Goose with? a bit like a Grey Lag (sort of!) a strange mixture, never seen this before. 

He spent most of his time fighting off the other couple.

What else I saw:

10+ Shelduck

50+ Lapwing

26 Teal

6+ Canada Geese (apart from the above)

x1 Cormorant

x1 Grey Lag Gose - probably another/more around

Tufted Ducks
Oystercatcher

Heron

Coots

Mallards...

Male Pheasant 

Siskins

Chaffinch

Blue and Great Tits etc

The other day I saw a large Female Hen Harrier #stunning. 

Today possibly another Harrier, some were saying a juvenile male...

I was hoping for an owl but no luck! so around 5/6pm I decided to call it a day. 

Lake Vyrnwy

On my way to Lake Vyrnwy and before hitting the M53 I saw 3 Buzzards and 1 Kestrel around 7/8am this morning, not a bad start! Other birds seen on the journey: another Buzzard, 20+ Starlings, 2 Jays, Carrion Crow and some of the general ones.

(Photo taken below on my phone of the lake)

I Eventually arrived at Lake Vyrnwy and went for a walk around to see if anything was about before meeting up with the team from South Stacks.
We got a little tour of the area along with seeing the organic farm owned by the reserve just a few minutes away. It was a great day, but VERY cold! 

What I saw today:
x4 Brambling (which was a nice little surprise as I haven't seen these birds for ages!)
x2 Dippers
x2 S.Woodpecker
30+ Chaffinch - they were everywhere!
6+ Great Tit
20+ Blue Tit
x1 Nuthatch
x6 Coal Tit
x2 Willow Tit
20+ Siskin
x2 Carrion Crow
x4 Robin
x1 Sparrowhawk that was after the Chaffinches etc, I didn't see if the bird had manage to catch anything with it flying away so quickly! Here's the video: www.flickr.com/photos/eve-creative/8498825454/in/photostream

Favourite photo/bird from today: the Brambling!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For the bird(s) in your life!

Happy Valentine's Day.

Herons, Waxwings & Barn Owl

Today I went out visiting the local areas to me, very cold couldn't hardly move my hands and I even had gloves on! along with a few pieces of snow that disappeared after a minute.

What I saw today:
Waxwings - seeing them everywhere at the moment, saw a group when driving through Heswall on Telegraph Road.
Chester High Road: Sparrow Hawk and Buzzard.

Burton marshes:
x5 Heron
x3 Rats
x2 Canadian Geese
Coots (lost count)
Lapwing 40+
some of the regulars - Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, ducks
Teal x5 male x5 female

  

Some of you may remember me posting this image a few weeks ago... (to the left in the tree - zoomed in from my phone).

Well today I managed to get another shot but on my camera (a bit of a improvement!)

This one not so good...

After here, I went down to Parkgate to look for the Short Eared Owl that I saw yesterday which came up close to my car. #NoLuck! but I did see:

x1 A Greater Black-Backed Gull which kept of flying up high then letting something drop about three times.

x2 Wood Pigeon

x1 Little Egret and again, another Heron.

It was starting to get dark so I went back to Heswall to see if the Waxwings were about, which they were flying up and down from the tree feeding (lightened images so you can just about see them).

After a few hours I went back down in the evening to see if much was going on and came across a Barn Owl, a first for 2013! It disappeared for a short wile then flew back up and disappeared must of caught a mouse or something!