Lady luck smiles on me
Bit of a cock up at work today, I got to the venue and it was double booked, so with no chance of plying my trade there was nothing for it but to go birdwatching. Started off at Dimmingsdale to see if I could find the Sand martins. A nice walk down the river for around half a mile and they were there waiting for me, a small flock of around 12/16 birds. They did not venture too close to the river, and I was trying to get a photograph of one in flight (not an easy task). I then went up to the Oakamoor end of the Churnet and managed to see the Dippers and a pair of Coal tits gathering nesting material. From there I went to see if the Ring Ousel had returned to Danebower, I could not locate it, but someone said they had seen a male bird yesterday. There were plenty of Mipits and Wheatear about around the chimney stack area, a Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Kestrel, Raven, Red grouse and Curlew were also seen. I met up with Dave (Bananafishbones) and we went to look for the Pied Flycatchers in the Goyt valley, we could not find any, even though a chap said he had saw them just half an hour before we went. We did see what we thought was an early Hobby go over but we are waiting on further sightings of the bird from the area as someone said it could have been a small immature male Peregrine. The flight pattern just didn't match Peregrine as it was a very fast wingbeat followed by a short glide, we had it in the bins for a while watching it circle then head off North East. We re-checked for the Ring Ousel on the way back, but still no sign.
I then made my way home as it was around 6.30pm. I was going toward Flash on the back road near to where me and Charlie saw the White wagtail and I couldn't believe my luck (so much that I nearly ended up in a ditch) there was not 1, not 2 but 3 Short eared owls quartering 1 small area, brakes on, windows down and out with the camera, as it was still quite bright. The views were probably the best I have had in Staffs, never seeing 3 together before. Here are a few pics. I know my birding day was not all in Staffs, being on the border of 3 counties, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffs.
