Just standing there on the roadside it was amazing how many birds we could hear singing. In fact it was difficult trying to separate the different songs as they all seemed to blend together after a while. We set off along the footpath to Topcliffe Mill, which is often a good place to see Grey Wagtails, though this morning we were out of luck. We passed through the stile and into the meadow; Swallows were skimming low and Pied Wagtails were hopping about in search of insects.
Just as we were about to end our walk an angry squawk came ringing through the trees, such an indignant cry could only come from a Jay. We raised binoculars and could see the bird in question hopping about madly in the foliage. Eventually we could make out the cause of the Jay's cursing and swearing; there in the branches was a Tawny Owl roosting and seemingly quite unperturbed by the racket. He opened one eye lazily to survey the scene. Whether on account of one angry bird or a dozen inquisitive humans the owl decided to change its position. This only encouraged the Jay to further irate expletives. The owl however was now comfortable and refused to budge; the Jay flew off in disgust. It's unusual to get such a good sighting of a Tawny Owl in daylight. An excellent end to our stroll.
Take care.
Take care.
The nature reserve looks very tranquil, you were lucky to see the owl, I hear them a lot round here but rarely see them. Wagtails are pretty birds, we have a pair of grey wagtails on the river and I see the pied wagtails on the lane that leads to the moors.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds a lovely way of exploring your local patch. There was an interesting article (by Simon Barnes) in the newspaper about whether if you heard a bird rather than saw it, you would 'count' it on your tick list. He argued that you should but apparently lots of people don't.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see Simon Barnes's article but I definitely count birds that I've only heard, always provided that I'm absolutely sure I'm identifying it correctly. In fact the only way to count the number of breeding pairs of many species is to count the number of singing males.
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