I thought I’d put those days behind me – the days when I
would desperately chase down my daily dose of the best birding high there is. A
period of forced abstinence put me in charge of my habit and since then I’ve managed
to enjoy the occasional recreational dose of Hawkie and then walk away. Last
night though I felt that empty feeling in stomach starting to grow and by the
time I woke up this morning I knew that I had to go visit a dealer and luckily
there is one currently hanging about by a layby in Hurum close to Oslo.
I had all my equipment packed to enjoy the shot to the max
and set off praying that I would find the dealer. I didn’t find him immediately
and started to get panicky but luckily a member of the local anti-Hawkie
brigade (a Great Spotted Pecker) was trying to get Hawkie to leave the area and
the local youngsters alone and was scolding him loudly. And there he was…….The
equipment came out: camera and tripod, I got within range, pressed in the
shutter and enjoyed the rush.
Light wasn’t great; it was cloudy although not overcast but
there was no sunlight. Everything was covered in a thick layer of frost though
so it was very atmospheric. There were a few Common Crossbills also in the area
which were a bit agitated by the owl but little else. As is always the case
with winter Hawk Owls it is difficult to work out why they have chosen exactly this
particular area but it has been around a few weeks now so there would seem to
be a good supply of rodents for it.
On the way home I stopped at Fornebu. Bearded Tits were
calling when I arrived at the reedbed and were fairly vocal all the time. The
reason I could hear them was because they were very close and I could see reeds
moving less than 10 metres from me. I have just read an interesting note on
Beardies in British Birds and now understand that they feed mostly on the
ground which explains why they can be so difficult to see. I watched for half
an hour and could be sure from movement and noises that there were a minimum of
three birds in front of me but I only glimpsed one which briefly flew a couple
of metres. In addition I heard birds from another area and saw one of these
flying over the reeds so had an absolute minimum of four birds.
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| This favoured lookout post was in a garden - maybe they have a rodent problem |
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| stretch to the right |
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| and just a bit more |
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| here having a bit of feather care |
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| got an itch, need to move |
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| and I'm off |
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