A Quiet Sunday Sojurn

As the year rolls on I thought it was about time to have a wander the other side of the A303 to see if the indifferent weather had brought in any Short-eared Owls. It hadn't as of yet, but I did have a lovely hour and a half walk alongside the Woods surrounding Bransbury Common and then out on to the Common itself, an attempt to cross the River Dever failed miserably as the usually crossable ford soon came up an above my wellies. Giving me a rather wet leg.

This wasn't the only occasion either as certain parts of the meadow next to it, traipsed around by cattle appeared to be just a muddy patch but soon found me knee deep in mud. Wildlife appeared to be enjoying a lazy sunday too, I could hear Red-legged Partridge calling from the next field and they came into view enjoying the sunshine in their covey underneath the shelter of the nearby hedge. I also suspect they were in hiding from the raptor fest above. 7 Buzzard, 1 Red Kite & 2 Sparrowhawk circled high above enjoying the warm conditions. None really coming close enough for a picture.

Quite a few Butterflies still floated about, all be it quite late in the year. Brimstone & Comma both seen alongside the track. Overall quite a pleasant walk and a nice way to spend a couple of hours outdoors.

Moonlight Bank

Comma

Buzzard

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Water-Meadow Roe Bucks

Now the Roe Deer is pretty abundant in this part of the county, and for all the regularity in which I'm lucky enough to see one or several, I don't think I've ever really successfully managed to photography them as of yet. Well that happened to change at the weekend, whilst out scouting about for Owls down at Bransbury in the week, I did manage to get a few very grainy shots of this Roe Buck currently shedding his velvet. He was mooching around unperturbed by me for quite a while with 3 other deer, 2 Doe's and another young Buck that was also in velvet.

Not my finest work I will admit, but the light was fading pretty rapidly and having watched them for about an hour I thought when in a fairly open area I should try out a few shots.

My luck however changed on Friday, whilst called out with Dad to a suspected Poaching emergency, he  has been having problems with trespassing Polish & Lithuanians fishing from the side of the A303. Turned out to be a false alarm, just some lads walking back through the village from the local Course fishing lakes.

However I did spot this beautiful Buck resting in the shade of the trees at the edge to one of the water-meadows, no more than 30yards from the road. Dad seems to think he is quite a veteran, and the size of his antlers helps back that up along with a bit of a slightly grizzled muzzle. Finally some decent Deer shots to be happy about.

Water Meadow Roe Buck

Barn Owl & The 2012 Century

With a good hidden spot scouted out for owl watching, Nat and I set my 2 man real tree hide up on the Common late on Sunday afternoon in anticipation of Short-eared's the result to which I wrote about in my previous post.

Whilst watching them from a distance I was always hopeful that if the Barn Owl joined the fray it might stray a lot closer to the hide than the Shorties would. My hopes didn't prove to be disappointing as after about 30 mins of watching the Barn Owl hunt the long grass beyond the River Dever, it started to work either bank back and forth towards the hide. A few well placed squeak calls on the back of my hand, and he / she was heading straight for the hide. I have to admit in my amateuristic state of Owl attraction, I tempted it so close that I couldn't focus my lens in time, and was beginning to wonder if it might join me in the hide.

None the less a fantastic afternoon spent watching the Owls, and a real privilege to see such an awesome bird in the daytime. Plus I reached 100 Bird Species for the year with a Male Reed Bunting.

Barn Owl 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl 

About To Drop 

My Favorite 

In Flight 

As Close As "Barnie" Got Before I Lost The Focus :-(

99 Without The Flake

Having got some detailed directions to the location of the Short-eared Owls at Bransbury, I set the alarm for 5.50am on Friday morning and headed off in the darkness. After a 25 min trek from the Car to the given location I arrived about 6.35am, already the light gaining on me fast, it proved too fast really as a pair of Barn Owls were already out hunting as I emerged from the path on to the common. Waiting till they disappeared I crept further up the fence-line to the recommended spot overlooking the River Dever and the distant River Test. A Short-eared Owl soon joining me in the same field before quickly disapeering

My mornings Owl spotting was soon interrupted however by the local Deer Stalker who trundled up the River bank in front of me, seemingly spooking said Owls as I never saw them again. A couple of Buzzards flew over the area unperturbed, and just as I began to think about packing up and heading off to work at 7.15 am a Ring-tailed Hen Harrier glided over the top of the grasses in the distance. Number 99 on my bird Species list for 2012 and the first I've seen in England let alone Hampshire.

With the weather marginally better in the afternoon I headed down again, finding an alternative entry footpath and reducing the walk too around 10 mins. With Camo hide setup I enjoyed some cracking views of 4 Short-eared Owls and 1 Barn Owl for a good couple of hours. The light however preventing any of the photographs to anything more than a Noisy blur.

With Sundays afternoon awash in beautiful golden sunlight, and the weekends work moving just about done, Nat and I headed down and were setup again in my hide by 4pm, the first Shortie showing around 15 mins later soon joined by another 2. With both Rivers in between getting closer to them is a bit of a task especially as it seems like private ground, so all photos are from the edge of the common quite a distance away, some cracking views mind!

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

A Gorgeous Sky

Having hidden myself out on Bransbury Common from 4.30-6pm Friday and Saturday afternoon in hope of seeing the Short-eared Owls, I did encounter various other wildlife except the desired species. Friday's overcast conditions didn't leave me feeling overly confident in any decent pictures, but Saturday was gorgeous, a bright afternoon turning the sky into a gorgeous mix of pastel oranges at sunset.

Still no Owls, but a pair of Sparrowhawk displaying, and I did spot Kestrel, Green Woodpecker, Little Egret, Greylag Geese, Mallard, Gadwall, Mute Swan, Teal, Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge, Brown Hare, Grey Heron, Kingfisher & Roe Deer all from my vantage point.

Greylag Geese - Sunset