Sunday, April 21, 2013
East from Bury Down
It's a long time since we walked this stretch of the Ridgeway, our usual impulse on parking at Bury Down being to head west. On Several Down I counted twelve wheatears.
The floods at Churn were only slightly diminished, and held two curlews and a lapwing.
We saw two whitethroats, one singing and displaying, and heard but failed to see yellow wagtails. As we made our way up a rough, little-used footpath through scrub near the A34, the pale shape of a barn owl rose from a tree ahead. It turned and flew over us; we had only a fleeting glimpse because of the trees and bushes - but what a glimpse! The owl looked almost translucent, a bright white ghost against the deep blue sky as it peered down, decided we were bad news, and floated away to the fields below.
// posted by Christine @ 1:33 AM 
