It’s the first time one of the owls has stayed the day. It’s a bit early to be too optimistic but a good sign that they might be getting ready to nest. We hope!
Spring is coming
Just as the winds die down, the first frogs and toads have started to gather in the shallows around the pond edge: one of the first signs that spring is not far away.
A common frog
Red Kite
The unmistakable silhouette of a red kite over Tipton’s Croft. They’re not an unusual site around Shrewsbury but we don’t usually see them overhead here. The resident buzzard wasn’t impressed.
New tenants in the Pond
Today we had a delivery of some more native English fish to join the roach already resident in the pond: some three-spined stickleback and perch. Hopefully the pond will be big enough for them all to avoid each other as much as possible, as the perch are rather partial to eating small fish.
Just visiting?
A brief visit to the owl box last night by a new pair of love-struck barn owls. We’re not sure where they are from but they both have identification rings on their legs so they’re definitely not the adults from last year. One of them could be one of the youngsters from last year’s clutch, but owls don’t normally stay where they were raised. Wherever they’re from, it’s good to see that the owl box has potential tenants.
Not everything is dormant during winter
These freshwater shrimp are having fun wriggling around upside down on the underside of the ice in the old pond.
We know: they’re not actually shrimp and probably not the native Gammarus pulex but rather the interloper Crangonyx pseudogracilis.
A January twilight mirror
Amphibian adrift
Say hello to one large Great Crested Newt! Found on the floor of our garage, about a hundred yards from the pond, not very well, but perked up quickly once relocated to a more appropriate site in the undergrowth on the pond’s edge.
Happy New Year!
An unnaturally warm day, though the sun is welcome. We do need a decent cold snap soon to clear the air and cleanse the ground but it’s only just January so plenty of time for frosts and snow! The croft isn’t completely quiet even now: the fish are still rising, birds chattering and barn owls going to and fro at night. The ground is thoroughly waterlogged and muddy which is quite normal but makes it hard to do any serious work at the moment so we can just sit back and enjoy the view for a bit.
Autumn sky
Autumn colours
As autumn lingers the field is gradually slowing down in preparation for the winter ahead.
The swallows are long gone and the bats no longer flitter across the pond at dusk but the fieldfares have arrived to spend the winter here and there are plenty of haws in the hawthorn hedgerows to eat. The goldfinches should do well with lots of common knapweed seed heads to feed on during the cold winter days.
The bulrush around the pond edge has turned yellow but the roach are still active, feeding on insects on the surface before heading down to the depths out of the way of any predators.
Though there are no barn owls in the nest boxes at the moment they are around, appearing in the torchlight at night, their silent flight interrupted by loud screeching if you get too close.
There’s work to be done still: owl boxes to fix, pruning and cutting of branches but the main hedges will be left alone until there are no more berries to be had by hungry birds.
The first frosts should have stopped any growth in the meadow but there’s the occasional late knapweed flower or even an oxeye daisy around the edges that thinks it’s still summer: small dashes of colour in the late autumn sun.
New tenant?
We may have a new tenant in one of the nest boxes! This female (we think) arrived two days ago and is still there. We’re not sure if she is one of the adults from this year who has come back now the youngsters have dispersed. She might be completely new, possibly a dispersed youngster from elsewhere: we’ll keep an eye on her to see if she is ringed.
Time for a clean
The nest box was empty six months ago! This thick layer of pellets, fluff and feathers needs to be cleared out each year otherwise it wouldn’t take long for there to be no room for the owls.
Haircut time
The meadow has finished flowering and is now a sea of brown seed heads waving in the breeze. The tufted vetch pods have turned brown and are gently crackling like popcorn in the sun. Which means it’s time for the meadow’s annual haircut!
It’s not dry enough for hay but should make good haylage and likely more than the twenty large round bales we had last year: we’ll know in a couple of days.
It’s a bittersweet moment as it is a sure sign the summer is coming to an end. It’s also a bit of a surprise to any field voles and mice that have settled into the field: they’re going to find themselves a little exposed to any passing bird of prey.
A quick cut, a day in the sun then sixteen bales all wrapped up. Not as many as last year but not bad, and the meadow will get better and better as we cut and take away the hay each year.
House hunting
Now the barn owl boxes are temporarily empty it’s time to check them over and do any repairs needed. It might be time to replace the oldest box so we’re going to have a good look at John Lightfoot’s (from the Shropshire Barn Owl Group) range of new homes at Talon Nest Boxes. We have also identified a good site for one of his kestrel boxes: very tempting and it would be wonderful to have a different bird of of prey nesting in the field.
It’s not just owls!
The three barn It’s not just owls! Summer is a great time of year for the insects too 
Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonfly 
White Tailed Bumble Bee 
Comma Butterfly 
Common Green Grasshopper 
Common Green Grasshopper 
Dock Bugs 
Drone Fly 
Nursery Web Spider 
Sloe Bug
Almost gone
The three young owls are visiting the nest box less and less now as they gain their independence. They still appear from time to time to have a play around with each other and hiss hopefully for the adults to feed them but this may well be the last we see of them.
Our job may be done for these three but the nest box may only be empty for a few days so we need to get up there and clean it out and do repairs in time for the next tenants.
Three girls by torchlight
The three barn owlets are doing well and getting better at flying. They just need to learn to hunt and if this goes well in about a month’s time they’ll disperse to set up homes elsewhere. It will be a shame to see them go but go they must.
A typical night at the owl box
The youngest owlet comes out of the owl box to sit on the ledge soon after sundown, shortly joined by her two sisters who are roosting somewhere nearby.
They spend most of the night hissing and squabbling with a little practice flying but they’re not hunting for themselves yet so the parents respond to their calls and bring them food to keep them going. Just before dawn the older ones go back to their roosts, leaving the youngest on her own, at least until the next night.
They are getting quite noisy and we can often hear them from the other side of the field, at least five hundred feet away. They do need to start hunting for themselves as the parents won’t keep up the feeding: won’t be long though.
Here’s the youngest owlet settling down for a day’s rest after the night before. The field mouse on the floor is a clear sign she’s being fed well. The adults will have to stop doing this otherwise she won’t learn herself.
10 weeks old
The three owlets are spending the nights hanging around in the dead oak tree, jumping from branch to branch and occasionally flying off as they practice their flying skills. There’s not a lot of hunting behaviour yet but the parents are still coming back to feed them so they’re not going hungry.