I went out for an evening/night time walk see if I could find a barn owl using the Osier Marsh and to see if there was any amphibian activity in the Reffley Reservoir. I also took my bat detector to record any bats that might be out and about.
I didn't arrive until later than planned and thought I had missed my opportunity to see any barn owls hunting over the marsh. I stayed until it was almost dark and was just about to leave, when I thought I had spotted something pale over by the copse. It was so dark that I couldn't be sure if I was seeing something or not, but it was a barn owl that was actively hunting over towards the river.
It was quite a relief to finally see a barn owl over Osier Marsh once again. I haven't seen one since the 4th August 2013. As I have previously written about, a grid of paths was mown all over the marsh and I had felt the extra disturbances was going to frighten off the wildlife. And it appeared to do so, with sightings of grey partridge, kestrel and barn owl suddenly becoming obvious by there absences.
I have started recording grey partridges again over the last month or so, and a male kestrel has also been regularly noted over the marsh again, but the barn owls have been stubbornly absent. Until tonight, that is!
It was dark enough for bats by this time, so I walked over to the reservoir to look for any amphibians and start recording the bats. I had done this quite successfully at the beginning of March, but it was a little different tonight. I carefully searched the reservoir, but couldn't find a single amphibian. And I only recorded 2 common pipistrelles and a single soprano pipistrelle on my walk back towards home.
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