New Ings Revisited

An early morning visit to New Ings, a site in the outskirts of Hull where there's been a few sightings of Short Eared Owls. After the rainy, windy day yesterday I was hoping for some hunting owls, and shortly after arrival we weren't disappointed as two Barn Owls were hunting by the tree line. The ditches were quite full. Skylarks and the occasional Reed Bunting were singing. It was nice to see three stonechats, one an adult male, during the walk.

 Under an ash in the middle of the area we find plenty of Barn Owl pellets, and some more under a pylon. 

We then moved to a wetter field with reed patches and shortly after we flush a Short-eared Owl! It flies ahead and settles not far. We end up flushing it again before we can see it on the ground, and this time it flies further, and gets mobbed by a Carrion Crow and Skylarks, so it was forced to fly in a circle around the area until it lost them. 

 We watch a curious phenomenon I keep seeing in the last couple of weeks. A large gull flock circling like they are rising with thermals. These are Common and Black-headed gulls.

A distant shot of a Barn Owl hunting with the Humber Bridge in the background.

Two buck Roe Deer.

Stonechat.

Short-eared owl with the background of greenhouses.

Circling gulls. 

Carrion Crow mobbing Short-eared owl. 

The Barn Owl pellet collection.

Results of the dissection:

Pellet 1. 1 common shrew, 2 field voles
Pellet 2. 2 field voles.
Pellet 3. 3 field voles.
Pellet 4. 2 house mice, 1 field vole.
Pellet 5. 3 field voles.
Pellet 6. half field vole.
Pellet 7. 3 field voles.
Pellet 8. 2 field voles.
Pellet 9. 3 field voles.
Pellet 10. half field vole.
Pellet 11. A few incissors and leg bones.
Pellet 12. no skulls, just leg bones, some undigested stuff.
Pellet 13. 1 field vole.
Pellet 14. 1 field voles.
Pellet 15. no bones or skulls.
Pellet 16. 1 field vole.
Pellet 17. fragments of a skull of 1 field voles.
Pellet 18. 1 field vole.