Sunday, March 2, 2008 - Owl watching along Hampshire / Wiltshire border |
Decided a while back to go out on a few evenings in March, and see if I can find any Long Eared Owls in the North Hampshire / Wiltshire Downs. Fortunately, I stumbled across a couple on my BTO Survey a month or so back, so I'm not as desperate to find any now as I might have been!
Last night seemed like a good evening to try a few localities. I was hoping that after the poor weather we had on Friday, Owls would be active this evening, and this proved to be the case with numerous sightings of the commoner species. Did a circuit of the Wallops - Grateley - Collingbourne - Salisbury Plain (East of the Avon) - Danebury. The GPS taking me along some very minor roads, with waypoints marking stopping points to listen out for calling birds. Suspect it was too windy/cold for birds to be calling, plus they were pre-occupied with hunting. I didn't hear any calls between dusk and 22:30hrs.
Totals seen were as follows:
Barn Owls: 9 Seen thoughout the North Hampshire / Salisbury Plains area. Most on Roadside posts, or hunting in fields. Some excellent views.
Little Owl: 1 perched on a post East of Palestine Village
Tawny Owl: 2 seen. One near Mottisfont, 1 at Toothill.
The Little Owl means I've seen/found all 5 regular UK species this year. |
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Diary of wildlife watching in and around North Baddesley, Hampshire.
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