Avez-Vous un Cuppa?

After finishing my early shift today I nipped down to Cossington Meadows and saw three Short-eared Owls hunting over the Swan Meadow and the Moor from 16.30pm. One Barn Owl was also seen hunting over the nearby Wood Meadow and I heard at least three Little Owls calling in the nearby trees. Whilst waiting for the appearance of the Owls I noted that at least 2,000+ Starlings roosted in the reedbed by the Moor Pool.

After finishing my night shifts this morning and a few hours sleep in the morning I decided to check out Cossington Meadows in the afternoon to see the long staying Barn Owls . Arriving at the site around 4.00pm it was pretty quiet for a half an hour as I scanned the Swan Meadow, but then briefly I saw a Barn Owl flying over the nearby "Moor" for a couple of minutes. I then meet up with Steve Campsell and his wife who had also seen the Barn Owl briefly. Over the next 20 minutes there was no sign of any Owls, Steve and his wife left me just before it started to get dark, and then suddenly I picked up two Short-eared Owls hunting over the northern end of the Swan Meadow. This was followed by at least one Barn Owl hunting over the same meadow. Then finally as I just about to leave for home I had two Little Owls calling in the nearby trees and the large hedge between Swan Meadow and the Moor. So an excellent fifteen minutes of sightings before dusk and I would imagine that a ...

Six Scaup at Rutland dam Tawny Owl at Great Easton Record shot of a Short-eared Owl at Great Easton. Over the last week I have checked out Albert Village lake on a number of occasions and nipped over to Eyebrook Reservoir and Great Easton for the owls. Sightings at Albert Village have included an adult Caspian Gull and an adult Yellow-legged Gull but no sign of any of the recent white-winged gulls. It seems that later in the week (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) is probably the best days to visit this site as the gull numbers seem to increase over the week until the Sunday when the local tip is closed. Moving onto Eyebrook Reservoir which I hadn't visited for a couple of months I finally connected with the long staying Green winged Teal at the inflow end. Other sightings on the reservoir included two nice looking drake Smews by the island, a flock of 50+ Dunlins at the inflow end and at least 30+ Tree Sparrows at the bird feeders. The last destination of the day was the field...