Owlets Ringed

 Last night I went to watch a local ringer process a brood of Barn Owl chicks. A friend has a barn owl box in his barn and each year, if a brood of chicks is raised, a ringer comes along to ring them.

 

It was thought there were five chicks but there were six! Different sizes as the eggs are laid over a period of days with gaps in between each one.

Six barn owl chicks being ringed

It's always a privilege to see owlets at such close quarters and is no less thrilling when you've seen the process a few times before.

 

A pair of Kestrels have been seen over the weeks displaying behaviour that suggested breeding and I hoped that they would be successful. The last few days I've seen up to three young Kestrels with their parents in the trees around the Mere.

Kestrel at the Mere

Continuing the theme of young wildlife being seen around Hornsea, here are a few photos taken over the last week of young birds and deer: 

Three young Herring Gulls

Two roe deer young 'uns

Juvenile Reed Warbler

Lapwing chick, close to fledging by the looks of it

Apart from the young birds and deer, there hasn't been much else to draw attention, so my focus has switched to insects and wild flowers.

 

Dragonflies are out and about but are not in particularly good numbers yet. My experience locally is that they are few and far between but others are seeing them more often than I am. 

Male Black-tailed Skimmer

Female Common Darter

Pied Hoverfly

Furrow Orbweaver spider wrapping up a burnet moth

Furrow Orbweaver spider wrapping up a burnet moth

Common Globetail Hoverfly

Cinnabar moth caterpillars

Soldier Beetle

Enchanter's Nightshade

Tuesday 30 June and a White-letter Hairstreak

 I've seen White-letter Hairstreak before in Hornsea, but that one was found by a friend of mine and he told me where it was.

 

This one was more satisfying as it was self-found, and it stayed in the same place for over 10 mins, giving me plenty of time to get decent photos.

 

I'd forgotten how small they are - a Marmalade Hoverfly in the same photo gives a good idea of scale.

White-letter Hairstreak on a bramble, with Marmalade Hoverfly

Also this morning two Hobby catching dragonflies and a male Marsh Harrier fly by.

Hobby with dragonfly

Hobby removing bits of the dragonfly before eating it

Warblers are quieting off now having mostly paired up and raised a brood of youngsters. This is a juvenile Sedge Warbler in Heslop's.

Sedge Warbler

My first Gatekeeper of the year arrived yesterday - exactly the same date as I saw my first last year. 

Gatekeeper in Heslop's

Osprey At The Mere This Morning

 UPDATE - the darvik ring was reported and 65U was ringed in Norway in July 2024 

The week's update has been overshadowed by an Osprey appearing at the Mere this morning. I saw it for about 24 minutes but what a great 24 minutes!

  

I got to the hide and had a look around as usual before getting the bins out and looking more closely at what may be about. A juv Marsh Harrier was nice to see but nothing else caught my eye. 

 

Then a raptor flew into view from my left. I got the camera and found the bird through the viewfinder, by which time it had turned and came over me from the right. 

Osprey first photo at 07:24:57

I later saw that the bird has a darvik ring fitted on its left leg. It also has a small fish in its talons.

 

I was sure it was an Osprey but I had to make sure before letting people know, so I looked at the photos I had taken rather than following the bird in flight.

 

Having confirmed it was what it was, I scanned for it through the bins and found it in a tree opposite the hide on the north side, at the time I didn't know it had caught a fish so it would have been looking for a perch to stop and eat it. 

 

I took a few photos and reviewed them on the camera but still couldn't see that it had a fish. More photos taken and more reviews.

 

Osprey with prey

Meanwhile a couple of Marsh Harriers were making a racket to the left of the Osprey.

Marsh Harriers - no food was involved in this meeting

Back to the Osprey and the first photo I got looked as though it had been disturbed during its breakfast and was watching the harriers.

Osprey absorbed in watching the harriers 

Normal service is resumed at 06:29:12

The next time I picked it up was 06:41 and it was obviously hunting again, circling and hovering.

It made an unsuccessful dive for fish which I missed with the camera, picking the bird up as it left the water.

No fish this time

A male Marsh Harrier came in and attempted to drive it away, to little effect as the Osprey turned for another look for breakfast part two.

Male Marsh Harrier harrying the Osprey

Another dive for fish, this time successful.

Osprey with fish

Final photo of the Osprey at 07:48

I last saw it flying south west, perhaps in search of a tree to perch and eat its meal away from the Marsh Harriers.

In other fishy news, five minutes after the Osprey left, four Common Terns flew in looking for fish, and one was successful.

Common Tern with fish

The week's round up will be posted tomorrow.