Sussex Scrapbook
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Wildlife walks throughout the year
Saturday 4th March 2006
Burton Mill Nature Reserve
Today we paid a visit to Burton Mill nature reserve, which is just south of
Petworth. On the way we saw 2 kestrels, one of which flew right in front of the
bike and also a buzzard, which sailed right over us giving great views of it's
plumage.
It was really cold when we got to Burton but the place is very quiet and peaceful so it was
completely worth it. On the ponds there we saw pochard, great crested grebes, tufted ducks and
shelducks. Walking around the area we saw lots of wrens, two nuthatches,
goldcrests, long-tailed tits and also some bramblings. The reserve is very
picturesque and has many types of habitats and you can never be sure what you
will see. There are usually not too many people either.
On the way home we stopped at Dave's workshop at Slinfold to watch the barn owl
that hunts there every evening. We had to wait about 15 minutes in below
zero conditions until it turned up. It came really close to us and was swooping
to the ground regularly to try and catch things. A fantastic end to a beautiful
winters day.
Apparently bitterns live here and one was
seen that morning, but we
didn't see any.
Most of the lake edges are too swampy for
humans to walk on, which makes them safe for birds and animals.
This area is known as the black hole and
is a fantastic place for dragonflies in the summer. Today it was the home to
lots of wrens.
Here is the Barn Owl that we watched at Slinfold. I got a closer picture but it came out blurred. I needed to use a
flash really but there was no way I was going to frighten the owl.
Here's the blurry picture anyway. You can
at least see that it is a Barn Owl (Tyto alba).