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).
