It's funny how some birds attract more interest than others, especially from non-birders. A rare finch or warbler will attract a good crowd but they will mainly be birders of one complexion or another. Owls however are a different kettle of fish. They have an almost mystical presence in the collective psyche and are a big pull. When news got out of at least 9 short-eared owls on site at Staines Moor things got a little bit out of hand. For a week the least the moor was packed out with owl worshippers. In itself not a bad thing as the moor is very large but there was a lot of inappropriate behaviour with people chasing the owls and going into their hunting areas risking disturbing them and affecting their ability to catch voles. With lots of warnings on the internet things calmed down a little so I decided to go and pay a visit.
I got to the site about 2pm, normally a bit early for even short-eared owls flying around. SEO's are the most diurnal of all the owls but even they are active in the hour or so before dusk. As I walked onto the moor I could see two or three flying in the distance. I could also see quite a few birders and photographers (a distinction which is in itself is tricky) camped out either on the path or on the moor.
Staines moor is a large area of rough grassland under the Heathrow flightpath. It is a valuable area of wildness in an increasingly developed landscape. In Winter it holds water pipits and snipe as well as owls.
I quickly established an area by the central path where three other photographers were camped out and which looked good for watching the owls. Unfortunately you could see that a few of the bushes in the central area where the owls roosted hunt were occupied by people potentially disturbing the very subjects they were there to watch.
It was clear that there were quite a few owls in the air already. To my left, right and front you could see the distinctive shapes quartering the rough ground.
For around half an hour the light was gorgeous with the sun behind us and the owls flying low over the golden grassland.
Traversing the field they occasionally came across each other, resulting in a minor altercation as they flew up and squabbled over the best territory.
The moor is generally an open area but has a few bushes and shrubs in the central are and the owls seemed to be moving around those. I'm not sure if they are good for hunting but the owls did their "nose down" dive into the grassland quite a few times.
One of the owls decided to come quite close to us and even fly virtually over our heads as it moved across the central path to pastures new to hunt in.
Frequently the owls disappeared into the grass either to rest or to eat their prey. Only on a couple of occasions did the owls decide to perch in plain view making use of the scrubby bushes.
By now it was getting really dark. The owls were still happily hunting over the moor. From a high point of probably over 40 people including some who were getting too close
there were about 5 or 6 of us left to enjoy the sight of the short-eared owls preying on the local vole population.
I slowly meandered my way back to the car with the last few owl worshippers left on the moor.
It is a difficult conundrum to solve. We want to engage people in the natural world and owls are one of those catalysts to do this. The issue of how we can do this whilst still giving the wildlife room becomes increasingly difficult in a crowded world. I do not say I have an answer to this. All we can do is to behave in a way which we think is appropriate to leave sights like these to those who follow on from us.
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