Monday, November 13, 2023

Short-eared Owls, Ginst Point, Carmarthenshire : Sat 11th November 2023

A window in the weather last Saturday gave myself and good friend Dave Gilbert the chance of visiting Ginst Point near Laugharne in the hope of catching up with some of the large recent influx of Short-eared Owls into the UK.

Dave had already visited the previous weekend when I was travelling home from holiday when there were at least 11 Shorties present !!

We called at Laugharne first which was very pleasant in the early sunshine and picked up Little Egret, Common Redshank and Curlew on the estuary mud banks.

Pushing on to Ginst Point we arrived at the owls favoured hunting area and were greeted by Carmarthenshire birders John + Jill Davis and Linda Beech and her son.

As soon as we arrived we counted 3 birds and Linda advised that she had seen at least 5 different birds.

There were Shorties in flight for most of the time we were there which was about 3 hours and the only disappointment was that the early light we had enjoyed was lost as heavy cloud drifted in off the sea.

We did however 'fill our boots' although the birds frustratingly kept their distance, it would have made our day if they had come in a little closer.

As the light began to really fade we made our way back to my car picking up a Barn Owl starting to hunt at dusk.

A few photos from a very enjoyable day out........















 

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