Stir crazy

After 3 days in the house looking after a poorly 1 year old I was itching to get out and I managed three hours around Maridalen this evening. I was hoping to see Wryneck which has been reported a couple of times in the past week but no luck. There were however enough other signs of spring to make for an enjoyable evening even if the northerly wind made it a but chilly. The water level is very high and there is no mud but even so there were a few waders (elsewhere there have been very high numbers sighted today so there is obviously some movement). 2 Wood Sandpipers and 2 Greenshank are always nice to see and on the water were 17 Tufted Duck and a pair of Red Breasted Merganser. Land birds were represented by 2 Wheatear, 2 Whinchat and a male Redstart which showed for 1 second before disappearing and not to be seen again.

Highlight though was a Tawny Owl which gave me my best views ever of this species. Before I have only seen birds in flight that I have disturbed but finally I saw a bird in daylight. I was on my way to check out a nesting box to see if there were any signs of Tawny Owls when I heard a Blackbird giving a very agitated alarm call. I located the Blackbird and then saw a Tawny Owl fly away. The Blackbird with company of a Song Thrush kept track of the Owl though and I was soon able to see it halway up a spruce tree. This video allows you to just about see the bird and hear the scolding Blackbird.