Stay Signed In
Do you want to access your site more quickly on this computer? Check this box, and your username and password will be remembered for two weeks. Click logout to turn this off.
Stay Safe
Do not check this box if you are using a public computer. You don't want anyone seeing your personal info or messing with your site.
Becky and I took the two-hour drive up to Kidlington this evening as I was after the long staying Scops Owl, which is frequenting the small hamlet of Thrupp. I had booked a room in a local B/B for tonight and what with the Owl showing well most nights, I was very optimistic in getting this bird onto my Life List.
Parking up just north of Kidlington, along the main road, Becky and I then walked through Thrupp, met up with some birders and waited in a field overlooking a small orchard.
This Scops Owl was probably the same one as last year in exactly the same place but I was in Scotland at the time when news broke out of its existence. So, I wasn’t going to dip out this year. As the evening wore on, the bird eventually began singing, a single note metallic call repeated for some length of time. One birder never had the patience and decided to try if he could see it within the orchard and, of course, the bird flew off! The dozy twat! Unfortunately, the bird didn’t show when it flew off as it called someway off in the distance. That promptly made everyone move and as the light was now disappearing fast, around 10pm, the bird was eventually picked up singing within the hamlet. Frustratingly, the bird took residence deep within a large ornamental tree for around 30 minutes but then flew into a smaller tree, which promptly got out the torches from a few birders, shined them up the tree and scanned the branches. Only one birder managed to glimpse the bird as it soon flew off. Luckily, it returned, back to the Ornamental tree then back into the smaller tree. From here, nearly everyone except me caught sight of the bird until it flew off. ‘**** It’!!!!
I was now not a happy bunny as not only the bird flew off and retuned to the same tree, but those who saw it had the torches, so viewing it was impossible. I suppose it wasn’t just meant to be. What made it even worse, was that lots of birders wives also saw the Owl and they only came because their respective spouses told them too!
Meanwhile, Becky was sitting on a bench, freezing cold by the canal. She did have one good laugh at watching us sad silly sods running up down the hamlet trying to catch a glimpse of the Owl.
Though the bird was continuously singing, I had to give up and go home empty handed. But I will try again. The following day, I did see my first Red Kite of the year along with several Common Buzzards along the A34 southbound.
Me waiting patiently for the Scops Owl to show.
The alleged daytime roosting spot of the Scops Owl
