18/02/2014 Little Gulls, Little Owls and a Kingfisher. SOS outing with Paul James

Tuesday 18th February 2014
SOS Outing to Rodmell
Paul James

I joined up with the SOS group at Rodmell for this afternoon session  The target birds were Short-eared Owls and Barn Owls.Weather conditions were reasonable with no rain, thankfully, although there was plenty of cloud cover.

Overall there  were a good number of birds around with several highlights.

From the start we saw Little Gulls flying over the meadows and fields.  Finally we decided there had to be at least 9 present, 7 adults and 2 juveniles.  It was nice to see them flying out in the open.  It made it easy to study some of the ID issues pertaining to this lovely gull.

I saw my first Kingfisher (163) of the year on the River Ouse close to the point where Virginia Woolfe committed suicide over 70 years ago.  My initial view was fleeting but soon afterwards the bird was spotted perched on a fence overhanging the water where the views were much better.

Kingfisher
Library picture

Other birds of interest included Buzzard, Peregrine, Stonechat and Raven.

What a lovely afternoon out.  The only ingredients missing were the star items - for the fourth time in the last few weeks I had failed to see an owl of any description on this site.

By way of compensation, on the way home, I called in at the Potato Lane/Neave Road site to look for Little Owls.  This time my luck was in and there on top of the disused building was a pair of the beauties enjoying the early evening air.  Thanks to David Williams for the lead on this one. 

Addition to 2014 UK Bird List:
Kingfisher   (163)