02/01/17 Staying Local - Short-eared Owl and Rose-coloured Starling

Monday 2 January 2017

I decided to avoid the crowds today and stay local.

Crawley

The Rose-coloured Starling was showing superbly mid-morning at Beachy Road.

Horse Eye Levels

After lunch I made my way down to Horse Eye Levels to be in good time to see the owls.  After a very wet day yesterday I was confident of a sighting today.  

• Just after 2.30 p.m. the first Short-eared Owl appeared, flying close by.  It then landed on the ground and I was able to get a really good view.
• About 10 minutes later 2 of them flew by, again offering great views.

• As I made my way to the car I got a third sighting - this time a single bird flying in the field to the south of me.

• There were no signs of any Harriers, Hen or Marsh.

I only managed to add 6 new species today but 2 of them were rather special and my afternoon on the Pevensey Levels was awesome.