Wild
Another day, another butterfly transect.
I only just started the survey and I was feeling deflated: days like this often feel like a waste as it’s like I’m not really able to appreciate the saltmarsh for all its awesomeness. As soon as this thought had left my head, I saw a short-eared owl not 5 metres in front of me. It flew up and then settled down again about 10 metres behind me. I could practically feel the air coming from its wings as it flapped them.
Short eared owls are a very cool bird. They’re declining and not very common. To put this into perspective, breeding wise the UK has 600-2,000 odd pairs mostly breeding in northern England and Scotland. As it’s the beginning of September, it’s safe to assume that this is probably a bird that’s finished its breeding for the year further north.
So to get to see a bird down here in the south-west of Scotland at this time of year is exciting and up close like that definitely got my heart pumping.
Ten minutes later after that excitement, I had just settled back into my transect when I saw a female sparrowhawk perched on one of the fence posts. Although fairly common here, sparrowhawks are a fantastic raptor: as they are pretty small, they are well adapted to hunting in confined spaces and people often see them going after birds eating at feeders.
Sparrowhawk by Alex Hillier
You couldn’t make this stuff up because as I was walking back across the merse having finished my survey, an osprey with a fish in its mouth flew over my head! It was clearly just one of those awesome days where everything is about doing its thing. The only word I could think to describe it is wild. It all felt incredibly wild and reminded me why I do this job at all.
At this point, I was riding the high of three incredibly cool birds coming out and showing me their best sides when as if from my own imagination a ringtail hen harrier flew across the saltmarsh in front of me.
Ringtail hen harrier by Andreas Trepte
What had started as a slow, unexciting morning had become one of the most awesome bird days. You never know what you’re going to get at Caerlaverock and that’s what makes it so special.
Words by Jake Goodwin
Feature image of short-eared owl by James Lees
