Wednesday 4th. February 2009

No volunteering yesterday or today , holidays and weather coming into play . But , I had a task to do up on the Greensand Ridge , and that was to refresh the water in the Snowy Owl's aviary , and also to replenish the bird feeders in my mate's garden .

Amazingly , even though it is one of the highest points in Kent , the snowfall had been much less than where I live , closer in towards London . The Snowy Owls looked really at home with theweather , as they should , as they breed in the tundra in the wild . Both male and female were vociferous as I entered the aviary , and the male flew from one end to the other , the first time I have seen either in proper flight . The wingspan is impressive , and it's good to know they were saved from a cage , in which they couldn't spread their wings , nevermind fly .But they soon settled down , and watched what I was doing . I can't remember if I mentioned it before , but Snowy Owls need water to drink and bathe , whereas Tawny and Barn Owl need it just to bathe , as they get their moisture from their food .

All six feeders in the garden were empty and were replenished with peanuts , sunflowere hearts , seed mixture and fat balls . No sooner were they back up , then the garden came to life . I got in the car and sat and watched for a while , with camera at the ready .

Plenty of Blue Tits and Great Tits .

A pair of Nuthatches made darting visits .

One of the rescued Barn Owls came out to see what all the commotion was about .

And it couldn't be a snowy post without a Robin . Other species that came to the feeders included Gt.Spotted Woodpecker , Dunnock , Blackbird , Goldcrest , Chaffinch , Greenfinch , Collared Dove and Woodpigeon .

On returning home , the sky was alive with the local Jackdaws , someone or something had put them up and this shot caught about 60 , but there were many others out of shot .