It was one of those surveys this morning when it felt like I should be paying them rather than the other way round.
We arrived at our destination in the half light of dawn and the first bird of the day was a cuckoo calling distantly on site, and a couple of willow warblers were singing in a coppice.
I set off on my route and walked past a small lake where four whimbrel went up calling and headed off east.
The air was full of the calls of red grouse and curlew, but also greylag geese, of which there seemed to be a large population on the moor, with at least 40 birds present and at least four pairs with tiny chicks.
Suddenly I caught sight of a barn owl hunting over the moor and heading towards me. It was an unusually pale bird, almost completely white except for some small tan patches on its wings. I watched as it flew towards me at quite close range.
In the same area a short-eared owl appeared and hunted for a few minutes before landing on a post and keeping a watchful eye on me.
On a nearby quarry lake with four teal, two pairs of shelduck, little grebes and tufted ducks, a little ringed plover displayed.
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