It's Cold!

Nice to be in another spell of cold weather. Not had enough of it this winter in my opinion (am sure many people would disagree with me though!).

Teal on ice

Saturday could have gone a bit better, although we still had a lovely day.  Jess is an Owl lover, and there's one UK Owl that I've yet to show her; Short-eared Owl.  So on Saturday afternoon me made the hour and a half drive to the Wiltshire/Dorset border where up to five Short-eareds have been showing exceptionally well (mostly!). 

It was cold. Very cold....

(as you can see from how Jess is dressed!)

The cold wind was probably the reason that despite spending over two hours here, we saw precisely no Short-eared Owls.  Not a whiff.  Did see a few nice birds though, best being a cracking male Hen Harrier that showed twice during the two hours, with the second view being of it hunting over a field right next to the road for a good five minutes.  Stunning.  Other raptors included a few Buzzard, three Kestrel and two Peregrine.  There were also a few passerines about with a single Corn Bunting being my highlight, along with 15+ Reed Bunting and a few Linnet and Skylark.

Such a pity we didn't see the Owls though, they were there both days either side of Saturday! Bloody typical.  I can see us going back again soon when it's less windy...