Barn owls and Roe deer

I spent a couple of hours very early yesterday morning visiting a local site where I had been able to watch Barn Owls hunting during the winter, thanks to a tip off from local wildlife photographer Brian Rafferty - http://www.brianraffertywildlifephotography.blogspot.com

It was the first time I'd visited the site for several weeks, so ti was great to find one of the adult birds roosting in a tree next to his favourite hunting field as soon as I arrived - see photos below. The bird spent most of the time sleeping, but I was able to watch it hunt for about 10 minutes or so around 6am.

In addition to the owl, many other local birds were active including a family party of long tailed tits, reed buntings, goldfinches, whitethroat, a couple of shelduck. I also heard yellowhammer, my first cuckoo of the spring, and a sinlge corn bunting.

Best of all were 2 roe deer which I disturbed. They bolted across the fields, but I was later able to find one animal (not sure if it was another individual or not), browsing along the hedgerow.