S.E.O. W.H.

Arrived around 2 this afternoon at West Hartford having decided to get there early as far as the Owls were concerned and to have a leg stretch and wander about the site. All morning it had rained but by now the sun was out and the light was fabulous. Not much to report really, usual Tit flocks, numbers of Blackbirds, a dozen or so Redwings passed through but more importantly no humans. Very nice.
Headed back towards the two pools hoping for a Common Darter on the more northerly one but no luck. Took up position by the trees in between the other pool and the fire station and within five minutes at 15.45 a Short-eared Owl appeared in between the two pools and dropped into the reeds almost immediately. Out of sight for a couple of minutes but the bird showed almost constantly for the next 40 minutes. It tracked around the main pool from the northern corner through to the west almost systematically searching the short grass around the waters edge and landing on a fence post. It did this five times before covering the main reed beds, tracking across the field in front of the fire station then heading over to the small plantation beside the electricity sub station. Spent ten minutes on a post in this location before heading back over to what seemed to be its favoured area alongside the main pool.