Chouette effraie

Pete and I spent much of the day at his Mum's house, defrosting the freezer and packing up more belongings - crockery, clothes, books and puzzles. This all needs to be stored in our house until the charity shops finally open. Probate has now been applied for, so we can finally put it on the market.

It was a grimly grey day again, but we drove back along the Welland bank in the hope of seeing some interesting birds. The River Welland is as high as I've ever seen it, and much of the arable land of the surrounding fenland is waterlogged with frequent areas of shallow flooding - it looks like the fens want to return to their natural state as wetlands.

There weren't many birds around, but this barn owl was busy hunting over an area of rough grassland. It didn't approach very closely but it was great to watch it floating silently over the field, dropping down into the grass every so often, in pursuit of a vole. Just before we left it was viciously attacked by a kestrel, who clearly didn't want this large competitor hunting in its space!