Owls Everywhere!

I was awake at 5.30am this morning and with the wind having considerably dropped and a clear sky I thought I would have a drive around the Stour Valley listening for Owls. December is often a really good time to hear the Owls calling and announcing their territories and this proved to be the case. I worked the area between Stodmarsh NNR reserve and the western end of Trenley Wood and managed to hear 13 Tawny Owls calling with one seen flying down the centre of the road in my headlights. Often just as the light is picking up they they seem to be calling more and in one area I had 4 calling birds together around me, a fantastic sound to start the day off with and my highest single count of this species in the area. 3 Little Owls were also heard calling. I decided as I only had till 10am to view the high area south of Stodmarsh reserve at dawn to see if any Harriers could be seen leaving roost. In an hour spent there I noted c200 Greylag Geese, 3 Barnacle Geese, 3 Pink footed Geese going between the fields and the main lake at Stodmarsh, 7 Marsh Harrier, c40 Lapwing, c80 Fieldfare, 2 Green Woodpecker, c250 Linnet on wires, 1 Little Egret, 13 Mute Swan, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker and 7 Pied Wagtail. I then moved on to Stodmarsh reserve where I walked up to the Lampern Wall before spending a while watching from the Reedbed hide. Birds noted were 1 Jay, 4 Treecreeper, 6 Pochard, 5 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Pintail, 2 Water Rail, 1 Bearded Tit, c100 Shoveler, 3 Great crested Grebe, 2 Bullfinch, 1 Kingfisher and 2 Water Pipit were seen, one feeding in the entrance fields by the car park with c15 Pied Wagtail.

Robin