We found the remains of a barn owl in the fen meadow near the hide, just a few feathers and the remains of the wings. No live barn owls seen here for a long time, so this is unfortunate.
Saturday 11 February 2017
Castlemartin Corse
WEBS - I visited last Tuesday, got soaked, and did the count on Thursday, in perfect conditions - but did another walk-through today with Rob Lewis and Mike Robinson. Still extensive flooding inland from the pines, which will doubtless drop fairly fast if the outfall is cleared. Very large wildfowl numbers, with WEBS online querying 45 greylag, 630 wigeon and 1100 golden plover. Teal 310, mallard 34, pintail 8, shoveler 12, gadwall 3 and shelduck 1, making 7 duck species. Waders - lapwing 1700, curlew 45, snipe 97 and jack snipe 1. Much of the fen meadow was underwater, and from the snipe we flushed from the edges of the reedbed I'd guess there were at least twice as many - they weren't flying about today. A water rail squealed from a dense thicket, 4 chough (2 pairs) fed in the fields by Starman's Hall, and a noisy party of 9 ravens flew over. 2 buzzards the only raptors, the ♀ marsh harrier was last seen (by Rob) last Sunday.
We found the remains of a barn owl in the fen meadow near the hide, just a few feathers and the remains of the wings. No live barn owls seen here for a long time, so this is unfortunate.
We found the remains of a barn owl in the fen meadow near the hide, just a few feathers and the remains of the wings. No live barn owls seen here for a long time, so this is unfortunate.