Owls about that then!

Another glorious day at Thames Chase' Broadfield Farm.
I awoke at 2.30am for an early morning trip to Gatwick for one of my regulars.i arrived back in Upminster at 4.30am,but i wasn't tired so i wandered over to Broadfield Farm,parking in Pike Lane as the site doesn't open till 8am.I walked around the woods and while it was a little bit spooky,just by myself it was also magical,especially as i heard 3 different Tawny Owls,one coming from towards Cranham Marsh in the distance and the other two from the South end of the Broadfield Farm site,i heard a fair few other birds by the time i left,around 6am before going back to bed for a couple of hours,i would recommend it to anyone who isn't too bothered by the dark,just make sure you take a heavy duty torch with you,just in case.
I woke back up at 9am to be greated by a grey,overcast and seemingly cold morning,something the weather forecasters hadn't predicted yesterday,so i went to get my hair cut and after made my way to Broadfield Farm again,by now the weather was getting better with patches of blue sky,soon to be replaced with about the sunniest day i can remember for a while.
I made my way to the usual spot(after i munched the usual Bacon Baguette),where i soon got some decent snaps of Redpoll and Siskins,both birds were there in small numbers,think i had 4 Redpoll and about 10 Siskin,i stayed for about 90 minutes,other birds of note were 3 Bullfinch heard,although i did see a Male,Kestrel,2 Fieldfare,a few redwings although the Thrushes have yet to arrive in any significant numbers yet,saying that a couple of other birders i met later in the day said they had a large flock of around 20 Fieldfare.
I made my way back to the centre,where the usually Pied Wagtail was hanging around on the roof,a few tits and a Goldfinch were on the feeders,which are due to be updated tomorrow.
After lunch i had a walk around the bottom part of the site,it was quiet to start with,with 3 Redpolls going over and a small flock of around 12 Siskin.I went to the Scrape with another birder,that too looked quiet until a Green Sandpiper arrived,no doubt scared off originally by one of the two motorway workers,working next to the scrape,he seemed less bothered by us but we were quite distant,as you will see by the quality of my photo.
I left around 2.45pm and made my way back under the M25,just to the right as i went under i heard the flock of Long Tailed Tits i had seen yesterday,though they seemed a smaller number there were still over 20 birds along with a couple of Goldcrests,Blue & Great tits and a few of the usual finches,2 Green Woodpeckers were near the tree as well and a Kestrel hunted overhead.The land next to the M25 has been cleared,not sure if the Golf course has bought it,would be interested to find out,hopefully the Thames Chase could get their hands on it,it would make a great piece of woodland and scrub,along with some clearings or walkways,don't know why everything has to be turned into golf courses,surely we have enough already??
I made my way back to the centre,encountering a Flock of around 15 Greenfinch,around 40 Canada Geese and a big flock of Siskin.
After getting back to the centre and stocking up with a drink and a bit of chocolate i made my way to the Hide and to look for the Barn Owl again,spoke to another walker who said he had seen it a few nights ago,i waited till around 4.50,by now it was pretty dark but in the corner of the field i saw it quartering and pretty much 12 hours since my first Owl i had my last of the day,a lovely end to a lovely day.Have to work tomorrow at 10am till around 4pm so i may just get up a bit early for a late night walk and then again some Owl action tomorrow evening,i may even get 3 hours birding at Heathrow somewhere around Midday while waiting for my mate to fly in from Dubai,a paying mate obviously.