Brambling #25

The morning was full of drizzle, but at about 11am it looked to be lessening so I decided to pop out to Sculthorpe Moor reserve. It's a great reserve with 7 hides to shelter in and a good variety of birds. I spent about 45 minutes in the first hide as there were loads of birds to watch, including 3 new ones to add to my list - brambling, stock dove and marsh tit. I was up to 23 bird varieties before I left the hide so I was hopeful of more success. Further round, the drizzle actually stopped, but it was still quite dark and grey, but I saw my other two target birds for the day - the tawny owl that was just visible in it's box, and a soaring red kite overhead. Whilst I was at the tawny owl area, the warden came past and told me that there was a barn owl hunting over the reedbed, but I'd better be quick as they close in an hour and it was 40 minutes back to the visitor centre. So I hotfooted it over to the two far hides and eventually saw said barn owl which was a real thrill. It was quite far away and very dark so my images were rubbish, but I've put one in extras in case I don't see another one this year! 

I had a lovely day and saw 40 different species which was 7 more than last year, and I managed to stay largely dry which was a nice bonus.