May 20th, 1999
The past two weeks
have seen the return of little owls to the barn. Little owls have bred in the barn
regularly in recent years but have not been present for
the past few months. On the 18th, in the early evening, I
located an owl in a large black poplar which stands near
the barn I had a quick look around the inside of the barn a few days ago but could not find evidence that the barn has seen more than light use by the little owls recently. The usual signs that I look for are small pellets, containing bits of beetle carapace, remains of dung beetles (Geotrupes stercorarius), or what, at first sight, appear to be bootlaces but turn out to be the remains of worms. |
Most trees are now in full leaf and the
horse chestnuts, which are always the first to show signs
of growth, are in full bloom. There are a number of fine
old specimens of the true, white-flowered horse chestnut
in the gardens and there is a less impressive example of
the pink-flowered hybrid in the shrubbery. The flowers
are just beginning to shed their petals and these can be
seen lying on the ground below the trees in large
numbers. As the petals fall, the first small green
fruits, which will later become the spiky cases
containing the chestnuts, are just beginning to show.
when I heard the 'pinging' alarm calls of
two blackbirds. The little owl moved to a different tree
three times during the next few minutes but the mobbing
continued after each move. In fact, the blackbirds were
joined by greenfinches in the first tree, bluetits in the
second and a mistle thrush in the third. Another sighting
was on the morning of the 20th, when the alarm calls of a
blackbird again lead me to an adult owl, in a horse
chestnut tree behind the sports hall.