A Barn Owl ready to pounce in Ribchester CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LIGHTBOX
EVERYONE LOVES OWLS RIGHT? We are lucky to have several pairs of Barn Owls breeding around Ribchester and while it still gets dark quite early it’s possible to see one before teatime at the moment. This particular owl is pretty much bombproof and doesn’t seem to be too worried by the many folks out for a walk when it emerges from its day roosting spot to go out hunting. I called in to see it again, giving a small boost to my March local patch list that started today. Mediterranean Gull excitement continued with a pair of adults with solid black hoods of breeding plumage on the fields along the lane to Boat House. They were quite lively and appeared to be courting, calling frequently but they didn’t linger too long after I first saw them as the 400 or so Black-headed Gulls attracted to the slurry spreading operation dispersed towards sunset. Again a Common Buzzard was also attracted to the slurry. I am thinking it has learnt that the slurry brings worms to the surface rather than trying to hunt gulls? Earlier in the afternoon a 3CY Great Black-backed Gull was feeding on the carcass of a dead sheep opposite the rectory, one of two ewes that have died there in the last couple of days. A Goldcrest was still singing at dusk and the Fieldfare flock was still around Lower Barn Farm, joined with a hundred or so starlings on a cold evening with a stiff southeasterly wind. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky but instead a dull brown haze caused by crappy quality, continental air across the eastern skyline.