The group of six for tonights session arrived, only to find me & my wife still wading through a huge quantity of moths caught from last nights trap! None of them had seen the contents of a moth trap before, so we of course showed off the big garish ones. They were bowled over by the size & colours of the hawkmoths, there was Privet, Eyed, Elephant & Poplar all side by side!!
We then headed off out for the Owls. First up great perched views of a young Little Owl perched on a fencepost, lapping up the evening sun! Then on to my usual Barn owls. This pair of Barn owls then provided fantastic, unbroken flight views for over 20 minutes. One of the Barn owl perched on a post & every one had lovely scope views, back lit by the falling sun.
Another stop produced a roadside Little Owl, quickly joined by a second
Little Owl. These two Owls sat side by side squeaking & calling just a 25m away from the van.
We headed for the heathland location around 9.30PM, but it was nearer 10Pm before the magical "churring" of the first Nightjar could be heard. We then heard 2-3 birds & then had nice perched & flight views of 2 Nightjar, plus a further male after the light had faded, displaying near the car.
The evening finished with 2-3 Tawny Owls very close by calling, after a bit of walking & calling we eventually had a great views in the torchlight of young Tawny Owl sat out on the branches of a tree. Great session.
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