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Post by kentyeti on Nov 13, 2015 21:34:03 GMT
The number of reports still being made around the country continues to outstrip my ability to record them all! Mainly because I am doing a lot of field work on Sheppey and trying to get all my field notes into the same format when at home.
Quite a few Shorties in the general area around Sheppey but I still think there are only circa 5 actually on the Island at present. That doesn't include any staying totally nocturnal. I am spending a bit of time looking for those, but if they inconveniently decide to be fully nocturnal well out on the marshes I won't find them! LOL.
Spent over six hours on the wind swept island today. 20-30 mph gusts all the time, one very short spell when I recorded a 48 mph gust, (60 mph recorded over at the Sheerness sailing Club which had the WSW wind coming straight off the sea).
I was hoping to see one up and hunting in the wind as I have made some very interesting observations in the past watching how they deal with such conditions. Superbly strong flyers with an enormous range of flight abilities. Capable of catching prey in winds over 30 mph. When they have to. Which wasn't today! As the only one up did that only to see off some corvids that must have got too close while it was roosting in the saltings.
Any regular Welsh sightings would be appreciated, not picking up many of them at present. I'd like to spend a day or two watching them in Wales.
Cheers,
Bryan
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Post by kentyeti on Nov 18, 2015 9:33:00 GMT
The current deluge of Shortie reports continue. I suspect mostly those already here rather then new arrivals. I am expecting more to arrive when sustained winter weather in Scandinavia forces more/the rest away. Maybe a few will arrive when the winds go round a bit towards the North at the weekend for a short while. I did see some on Sheppey arriving from a North Sea crossing late in November last year.
A lot of reports in the high winds. Some, especially those hatched this year, are unlikely to have developed the skills yet to be able to hunt successfully in strong winds. So I suspect, but don't know for sure, they will at least be forced to extend their hunting hours. There are still relatively calm periods when hunting for all should be easier. But sadly, and taking account as well of the heavy rains in some areas, a lot will be lost directly or indirectly due to starvation at present: not that unusual, like a lot of Owls and raptors, the first winter mortality rate is high. I guess Mother Nature sorting out those who can hunt enough in all weathers so become more suitable for the future breeding needed to keep the species alive. Although being a rather soft Yeti I do wish She would be a bit kinder sometimes!
Sheppey still doesn't have many visible in daylight: those in the roost I am watching are mainly nocturnal from what I can, (or can't) see! Elmley NNR, (closed Tuesdays and care with closure times), has one at least showing well in daylight at present. So I am told.
Cheers,
Bryan
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Post by NellyDee on Nov 18, 2015 11:16:02 GMT
making me so jealous! I only had tawny owls, but have lost them in our seemingly year long bad weather. I hope they moved to better pastures.
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Post by kentyeti on Nov 18, 2015 18:36:50 GMT
And I hope your Tawnys are OK too!
Not sure how far North you are, but there seem to be Shorties on the coastal lowlands of Northumberland at present. And some consistent reports from Lothian, Musselburgh Lagoons too. It's not all easy watching for me either! I am trying to follow one roost through from Autumn to Spring this over-wintering period on Sheppey. That should give me a lot more information than following others scattered around Kent just for the sheer joy of watching them, (which I never tire of).
And "my" roost doesn't have many. May be down to 2 now. But I think, (hope?) it will increase as the weeks go by, it usually does.
Today I had to do a spell of bad weather observations. Winds averaging 20 mph plus all of the seven hours I was there, gusting a lot to 30 mph and sometimes to 40 mph. A chance they would still come out as darkness fell, if not before. I have seen that in other roosts. But just as the most likely time for them to get active arrived, so did the rain! Making me wet as I had to leave the comfort of the car as the light went, and I had to sit on a windswept style. And further reducing any chance of the Shorties, who clearly have more sense then me, from leaving a sheltered roost!
But I want observations of how they behave in all weathers. And in doing that I do see rather unexpected behaviour, albeit infrequently.
Thank heavens for the Leysdown Bakery.
Right, time for my medication now! LOL!
Cheers,
Bryan
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Post by kentyeti on Nov 23, 2015 9:40:25 GMT
Still large numbers of reports from around the country, including some from Scotland, despite the high winds in places on Saturday.
That fits with my observations over the past years that Shorties can and do hunt in strong winds when they have to. Less so out of the breeding season when pressures on them, especially the male who does a lot of the hunting during breeding time, are less.
I was on the verge of getting a new personal highest wind speed for hunting, on Sheppey. One from the very small roost I am following is nocturnal, and came out in 40mph winds as normal on Saturday. Just on dark. Try as I might up on a very windy seawall I couldn't pick it up hunting, it was just too dark. Oh well, has to go down in my notes as having left the roost and then no further information on what it did or didn't do. Reckon it may have had more sense than the Yeti standing totally exposed, (to the weather I hasten to add!), on a seawall between flat open salt marshland and the sea in what the Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club reported as a Force 8 gale over on their side of the Island.
Cheers,
Bryan
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Post by NellyDee on Nov 23, 2015 10:03:49 GMT
In answer to your question - I am at the start of the highlands. Saw a shortie in Glen Lonan (near Oban) on Saturday. I got all excited thinking, at first, that it was one of my tawny gone to lower ground, but they don't usually come out in the day time. Wonder if it got blown in on the gale.
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Post by kentyeti on Nov 23, 2015 10:46:27 GMT
Thanks for that. It's straight into my notes!
So hard to see the impact the gales had at present. I was hoping it would force more down to the South from your part of the world. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the hardier ones resident on such as the Outer Hebrides may have decided to head for the mainland.
I'll have to hope the people who have helped me a bit from survey vessels on the North Sea were on duty over the weekend as I will find out for sure of any more did come in from that direction.
One day all rings fitted to birds will be the same size as a ring but with full GPS capability and with full reporting of location etc for minimal cost! A few decades away yet I fear. If not longer than that.
Dream on Yeti. . .
Cheers,
Bryan
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Post by kentyeti on Nov 25, 2015 19:52:48 GMT
Passed 4,000 hours of field work on my Short-eared Owl book today. A few days after passing 1,400 hours of Short-eared Owl behavioural observations: that is hours when I am actually observing the behaviour of these lovely Owls. So 2,600 of my field work hours are just waiting for something to happen! LOL.
Celebrated with a day on the Oare Marshes Reserve, where a Shortie over on Shellness was glimpsed. Then down to Graveney/Cleve Marshes just a bit further along the East Kent coast where the 3 Shorties currently there were active.
A nice day out.
Cheers,
Bryan
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Post by kentyeti on Dec 1, 2015 20:26:00 GMT
Reports from around the country are reducing a bit at present. I suspect less birders out in the bad weather and the Owls changing their hunting times to cope with the weather.
Did a 12 hour shift on Sheppey today. Watching a roost that has been mostly nocturnal for a while now. Up to 4 Owls at least now. Today I counted them all in, then I counted them all out again nearly ten hours later. Just about anyway. Hard to do that in the pre dawn darkness, and again as they left the roost as it got dark this evening.
I think it was one of them made a brief daylight appearance and came and conveniently perched near where I was parked.
I've seen them using the wind to dry off from a sodden roost before, and this is what this one was most likely doing.
A bit fuzzy lower down in the photo as there was waving grass in the way!
Cheers,
Bryan
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Post by aeshna5 on Dec 2, 2015 6:13:03 GMT
Lovely photo Bryan showing a slightly different pose with the wings held open slightly.
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Post by alf1951 on Dec 2, 2015 7:49:04 GMT
Marvelous image. Alf
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Post by kentyeti on Dec 2, 2015 10:58:58 GMT
Thanks guys.
It's doing something, rather than just a normal perch or a normal fly past the camera, nice as they will always be to me. Which makes both observation and photography of it important.
Current plan, (finance permitting of course), is to illustrate as much of the book as possible with photos. Which could mean as many as 400 photos! And virtually all of those need to be different, and so far I am achieving that with well over 300 "in the can" already.
It was nice to get one in daylight in Sheppey at present. Apart from the roost I am following, (nearly all nocturnal at present), I just don't know how many are on the Island, mainly because if they are well out on the marshes and nocturnal they won't get seen.
One of the hardest things I am doing in my field work is to get definitive reasons why a good number leave their nocturnal default, (certainly for most in Britain), and do at least some of their hunting in daylight.
I have a growing list of why they can be seen in daylight, but the underlying reason why they will actually hunt in daylight for at least one of their 2 -3 kills a day is proving much harder. And I have plenty of evidence it isn't just "Prey" which is the standard and quite understandable answer many will give.
My favoured view at present is that is a combination of circumstances, including perhaps when in the day they started hunting on their natal areas for those coming from mainland Europe. I won't post what those circumstances are until I have studied and tested them over a fair bit longer.
Anyway, studying that aspect of their lives is very interesting and quite challenging!
For daylight viewing in North Kent I think the 3 or 4 on the marshes just West of Seasalter are quite reliable. As much as any wild creature can be! Mid afternoon onwards seems to be the best time.
Cheers,
Bryan
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Post by kentyeti on Dec 6, 2015 20:01:46 GMT
The Sheppey roost I am watching is back to fully nocturnal. Watched it from way before dawn to way after sunset on Friday. Got 3 or 4 coming back just after 06.30. And as far as I could see they stayed all snuggled up until after 16.30! I'm ok with watching it like that, not that I have much choice. But maybe they will start some daylight hunting later in the winter.
Watched the same roost again today from early afternoon, and again they didn't stir until almost dark when counting them became somewhat hard.
I'll probably stay on the Kent mainland one day this week and go to Seasalter to see if the 3 or 4 there are hunting mid afternoon still.
Elsewhere there are a few indications the strong winds, and the heavy rain towards the North are having some impact on the Shorties. A few times being seen have changed and some days very few are being reported. Of course that could be that the bird watchers are being far more sensible than me and keeping out of the very bad weather!
Not a good time for the Shorties at present, (and for a lot of other birds I guess). A lot of those going into their first winter will struggle to catch a consistent food supply with so much high wind and heavy rain. I suppose it's how Mother Nature wants it to work. Those that can learn to survive such weather will be the best ones to be around next year to breed etc.
Cheers,
Bryan
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Post by NellyDee on Dec 8, 2015 11:10:44 GMT
it has been a bad season all round up here. Have there been any reports of shorites up the NW side of Scotland? My tawnies upped and left mid spring and not seen any since.
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Post by kentyeti on Dec 8, 2015 13:39:52 GMT
One being reported at Cathkin Marsh SWT, which is not really NW of Scotland. On the other side of Scotland, some reports from near Aberdeen and also Lothian, Musselborough Lagoons.
Cheers,
Bryan
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