Friday 25 November 2011

Feeding Frenzy









This week I have made a couple of visits to the Pilling area hoping to see some owls.There are good numbers of short eared owls in the country but none have yet reached the Pilling area.A few years ago there were daily sightings of short eared owls and birdwatchers and photographers flocked to Scronkey near Pilling to see these magnificent owls at close quarters. I was one of the lucky ones and obtained some wonderful images of these special birds.Hopefully some may still arrive to delight us again.

Despite the lack of shorties my visit was made memorable by the sight of huge numbers of starlings feeding in the fields at Eagland Hill Pilling.These would be birds from the roost at Blackpool North Pier spending the day at Pilling before returning to Blackpool in the evening.I wouldn't like to estimate the numbers of birds present but it would certainly be many thousands and they kept me busy with the camera for a couple of hours as they moved around the area.I hope the above images give some idea of the spectacle at Eagland Hill but again it is something that must be seen to be appreciated.

I was lucky later with a brief sighting of a barn owl and a ringtail hen harrier near Scronkey but the light was poor and I was not quick enough with the camera. All in all though it had been an exciting couple of afternoons in the Pilling area made memorable by the activities of the vast flocks of starlings.Also shown above a shot of a couple of roe deer enjoying the afternoon sun. Roe deer are never easy to approach and those above were quite some way from the camera but they added some variety to the week's sightings. Hope you enjoy the images above and my account of another week in the Lancashire countryside. Thanks for looking in.

5 comments:

  1. Certainly a spectacle Brian and so close must have been very noisy,I'llhave to make time to get out to see these special starlings soon.

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  2. It's a great sight Brian and the sound is magical. I was at that very spot a couple of weeks ago and the Starlings dashed over the car, back and forth - brilliant! Smashing images in this post.

    Coincidently, on that day, and perhaps not surprisingly, I was looking for owls too, but saw none. The last time I saw an SEO in that particular area was in March, earlier this year. So, like you say, hopefully they'll return there. Phil Slade (Another Bird Blog) has seen one or two around Pilling Moss though.

    Here's hoping!

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  3. Wonderful images Brian. Looks like a plague of starlings of almost biblical proportions. Cracking Roe deer too.

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  4. Hi friends,

    Wow! what a nice site you have created, really looking so amazing. It's Feeding Frenzy, the underwater action game everyone loves! You're a small fry in an ocean full of big fish, and the only way to survive is to gobble up the little guys until you can challenge even the most dangerous predators of the deep. Thanks.....

    Wildlife Photography

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  5. Wow the feeding frenzy is spectacular!! Never seen that before. The deer pictures are also beautiful!

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