It has been a busy month again, the last few days of January were spent in Austria as a guest of Swarovski birding. It was a business trip with a very interesting tour around the factory and excellent hospitality. Didn't really get time for much birding but we did manage to tuck Alpine Chough, Siskin, Crested Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard and a couple of Red Squirrels onto the list.
This Siskin was the only bird that I managed to photograph whilst there. Back home my attentions were again on the Owls at Welney, just as last year they were forced out of the washes onto surrounding farmland as a result of high floodwater.
Sadly the bird in the above two shots received some very nasty rodent bites on its foot, over a period of a few days the leg swelled up as it became infected, despite trying to catch and get the bird into care, it disappeared and I never saw it again. Hopefully someone else caught it, but I fear that it probably died as a result.
There were also up to 5 Short-eared Owls showing as well...More