Long-eared Owl. Exminster Marsh (shame about the annoying bramble leaves)!

When I  first arrived this morning I was greeted by a worrying scene and I knew immediately that the Long – eared Owl was back in it's roost. The tree in question had begun to draw a little crowd of onlookers who were pointing and making quite a "kerfuffle". They were far too near and I asked them to move back and "give it some space".  Grudgingly they moved on and away leaving the Owl to it's peace. It might look as though I was close from the photos but these are cropped and I was in fact across the car park and  at a safe distance.  All in all it was a good successful day.

My day today has been spent mostly looking to try and improve the photos of Reed Buntings that are numerous, in a small group on the Powderham Marsh area of Exminster Marshes. This group of birds has been interesting to observe for a few hours because I have been able to see adult females, older males that are almost in breeding condition and other first year males who look like females with the emergence of black feathers starting to show around the head. I have posted some pictures of these "new males". I spent about 3 hours trying to get close  enough to get some professional looking photos and I still have a bit to do.