On Sunday I set myself a challenge to see and photograph as many birds of prey and owls as I could. The first part of the challenge went quite well and even though I didnt get a decent photo of the birds of prey I saw, Sunday was definitely a day about barn owls.
I set off towards Sunk Island and I soon saw my first target bird of the day-a buzzard hunting over a hedgerow in the semi-darkness and far too dark for a photo. Inevitably a kestrel hunting by the roadside was the next one up.
The wind was whipping of the Humber at nearly gale force, however a tall hedgerow provided some welcome shelter for a barn owl and 2 kestrels. Again still dark for photos but the plan was going well. I continued along the back roads towards Spurn. I was hoping for a glimpse of an obliging little owl near Kilnsea Wetlands but alas no luck and precious time wasted.
I headed back towards Skeffling. No hoped for merlin but a nice view of a peregrine falcon was a nice bonus.
next stop was Welwick and almost immediately another obliging barn owl posed nicely. Again no merlin but another peregrine as well as 2 distant marsh harriers. Just before leaving a sparrowhawk shot through and posed on a distant bush again too far for a photo.
I planned on going back to Sunk Island for the last hour of daylight. As soon as I arrived there were 3 barn owls hunting over the set aside. A short eared owl caught my eye as it drifted northwards. For the next hour the barn owls put on a great show enabling some nice opportunities to photograph them backlit against the setting sun.
The short eared owl made another appearance and 3 more marsh harriers were hunting distantly over the saltmarsh.
All in all 6 raptor species, 2 owl species but the most exciting, encouraging and pleasing was to see an abundance of barn owls, and yet another day of memorable wildlife encounters in the magnificent county of East Yorkshire.
