Thanks to Rob Gilmour for this excellent image of a barn owl quartering the new heath on Tuesday 25 Feb 2020.


Yesterday was a great day for birds of prey on the 'new heath' and Galley Hill.
As well this beautiful barn owl, there were red kite, kestrel, sparrow hawk and a 'kettle' of five buzzards ( 'kettle' being the term for when birds of prey circle overhead).
Galley Hill, the ancient hillfort on the appropriately named Buzzard trail at The Lodge, regularly attracts birds of prey: perhaps there is something about it's topography, the way it has steep slopes and overlooks the lower lying ground below, that attracts them to the location.