An owl on the Moor
Chance encounter with a bird of prey in the Colne Valley Park
30/09/2024 | Staff | 0 commentsThere are several routes from Stanwell Moor to the nearest town, Staines-upon-Thames. The most interesting is probably the one beginning with the path that runs along the King George VI Reservoir; after a few hundred yards, a gate gives access to the Staines Moor, which is part of the Colne Valley Regional Park. In an uncommon sunny day in late winter, in February, I left home with my camera and a long tele lens (50-500mm), in the vague hope to see any bird of prey, and with some errands to run in nearby Staines-upon-Thames.
Past the gate, through muddy terrain and a welcome decking I reached a narrower second gate, necessary to keep out people on quads and off-road motorbikes. The path then follows the river Colne, which is a magnet for local fauna and migratory birds: sort of a Las Vegas for swans, red kites and snipes.
Two hundred yards beyond the gate, along the Colne, a bird of prey flies between me and Staines, to the south of the Moor. It's not one of the many red kites visible near Stanwell Moor. Could it be a buzzard? Kites glide almost effortlessly, this bird instead is frantically flapping its wings, probably setting its sights on some snack on the ground...
Closer to the unidentified bird of prey there's an elderly couple with binocular, dSLR camera and long lens. Given the gear and their good choice of position, they might be experienced bird-spotters / birders / birdwatcherws. I could try to get closer to the possible buzzard, in order to take better pictures, but I might scare it away, which would be unfair to the couple of observers. So I keep walking on the main path, beyond the point where the river takes a sharp, more than 90° turn southwards.
I reach the Two Rivers Shopping Centre in Staines; the long lens compartment in my backpack turns out to be perfect for housing a bottle of Chianti, which I buy along some French cheese (surprisingly cheaper than Italian cheese) at Marks & Spencer. Time to get back on the path that crosses the moor, which luckily is mostly free of mud today.
The probably-not-a-buzzard is not flying over the moor any more, the couple of birdwatchers is still around. I see them, they see me. The man leaves the woman behind, he seem to be walking in the same direction as me. We are so far that I can barely notice he's white and older than me. Then the stranger cuts through the moor, out of the path, and gets a few dozens yards behind me. Be it fear or competitiveness, I accelerate and leave him behind. Swans and birds of prey are all gone, some mallard remains, it is getting colder out here. I am less than a hundred yards away from the narrow gate taking out via a wooden deck, which leads to the outer gate via a muddy path reminiscent of the treacherous Louisiana bayou> of Southern Comfort. I hear a voice calling me:
"Do you know where I can see the owls?"
I turn around. The guy who was watching birds with his partner an hour ago is now a few yards from me, and we start taking amiably about birds and the local area. No, I admit, I have never seen owls on the moor, but I imagine they might be visible along the small brook along the east side of the park, lined with trees. The guy explains he's just the spotter, his wife is the real photographer in that couple. I suggest they might try to spot some kingfisher along the Colne, apparently there are some.
The guy, almost a Jeremy Corbyn lookalike but with a public school accent stronger than the former Labour leader, explains that the bird of prey we were all looking at was a kestrel, not a buzzard. "My wife said so", he clarifies.
We keep talking, the sunset is almost upon us, and suddenly an owl appears between him, I reckon less than 150 yards from us. It abruptly change direction, flying close to the ground, then disappears in less than thirty seconds. An almost magical happenstance, talking about having never seen an owl, and then seeing one for the first time. Maybe Mother Nature has a sense of humour.
Tags: birdwatching, Stanwell Moor news
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