Three Rings

A walk around Cissbury, Chanctonbury and Lancing Rings, with pauses for butterflies and birding, yielded very few butterflies and a few common downland birds.  (Happily Corn Bunting is common here, if nowhere else.)  The highlight was a couple of Spotted Flycatchers, including one that was quite showy.

Later we walked to a nearby site where both Barn Owl and Little Owl nest.  Knowing we would probably have a bit of a wait, we took a bottle of wine with us.  After an hour it was getting distinctly cooler and I was beginning to wish we had taken soup.  Soon after, just as the light failed, we heard a Little Owl calling and could just see it, followed a few minutes later by the Barn Owl’s emergence.  Both were our first of the year (taking my on-foot list to 154).