Little Owl

I called at my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss this morning to feed the Tree Sparrows. As I was coming out of the barn with a bucket of seed I had 2 Siskins go over followed by a couple of Skylarks. As I pulled in to the track I could see that Pink-footed Geese were dropping into the stubble field next to Tree Sparrow Wood and typically as I didn't have my camera with me they were close and in good light.

I got out of the car and a Little Owl flew from the sheep handling facilities next to where I park. This was the first time that I have seen a Little Owl here. It flew a short distance down the track and perched on a fence post. As I looked at it through my bins it was looking straight at me and was bobbing its head up and down. That was the second time that I had wished I had brought my camera with me!

A Little Owl ringed at Rawcliffe Moss, but not 'the' Little Owl.

As I walked down the track it flew along the track and up into the hedge. The Chaffinch and Tree Sparrows were going 'ballistic' mobbing it as it flew. As I got to where it was it flew out of the hedge, along the track and onto a post. The same thing again; it was looking straight at me, bobbing its head. This whole process was repeated two more times before it disappeared along the '97' hedge, before once more perching up on a fence post and watching me. Awesome!

At the feeding station I had 49 Tree Sparrows along with 9 Chaffinch and a couple of Reed Buntings. On my way back along the track I had 2 Yellowhammers around the 'pheasant' feeder. Hopefully they'll build up here like they did last winter. Just as I got back to the car 10 Redwings flew over heading south and it was then time to head up to Kirkby Lonsdale to see a client.