Short Eared Owl
I was woken up at about 5am this morning by the strangest sounding creature. It was an eerie sound to hear in the dead of night, in the middle of the country (I was at home in Ireland) – I wasn’t sure if it was a fox or an owl, but I just had a look online now and I found out what it was:
The Short-Eared Owl…
I heard a male AND a female. The female kinda sounded like a scratchy ol’ fox.
Click here to hear what the male sounded like…
And here is what the female sounds like.
I have been reading all about Owls today and fantasising about living in the country again….
Wildlife…
I saw this fella on my way home this evening:
He was on the footpath on Linden Grove! He was a young fella. I frightened him as I went bombing past on my bike. He flew up on the wall then. I pulled the brakes on the bike, did a quick U turn, whipped my phone out and captured him walking along the wall.
He was just as nosy as I was; he was looking at me with his beady eyes. He was checking out my new bike I think.
My new bike:
And would you believe that up until about six weeks ago, on the mornings that the tide would be in, I would see a seal on the thames as I cycled up the path. He was there like clockwork, just chilling out on a floating wooden palette, having the time of his life… I swear to God, no word of a lie …I have been seeing him most mornings for like four months now, he even recognises me and kinda nods his head when i turn the corner… I always stop for a minute and just stay a while in the quiet…listening to the water lapping and looking at him, but since the mornings have been getting brighter I’ve not seen him at all…
I wondered what brought him up the Thames. Someone said the Thames is clean these days and there are a lot of fish. I think he liked the bright lights of the city. He was always looking around, there would be the small planes flying into the city airport, the lights of the cars across the river, the ferry boats and I think he liked lounging and just watching all the action.
This is a kind of a bad photo of him as I only had my phone camera on me…
So now, on my travels to work so far I have seen:
Foxes
Seals
Pheasants
Seals
Pheasants
(and can I remind you, this is London…Zone 2, I am talking about…)
