Tipton's Croft

A field in Shropshire, England

Month: March 2020

  • Spawned

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    The frogs and toads have been busy as you can see: clump of frogspawn on the right, strings of toadspawn on the left.

  • Spawning time

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    Lots of frogspawn in the lake, and now happy toads all over the place too.

    A toad
    Four toads
    (yes, four!)
    Happy toads

  • Intruders!

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    There have been no owls in the new nest box for a few days, so others have taken advantage of the opportunity. Not sure who’s going to win the bidding war for this desirable location

    Jackdaw
    Squirrel
    Stock Dove

  • Sunday at home

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    The two barn owls are spending a lazy Sunday in the old nest box. They’re staying in the old nest box more now, hopefully a sign that they’ve chosen it as their nesting site this year.

  • They come and they go

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    Our refugee barn owl seems to have moved on, and the two love birds (geddit?!) have moved back into the old nest box. Unfortunately the empty nest box is being eyed up by a jackdaw, though fortunately no signs of nesting in it yet.

    The male barn owl is on the left, slightly smaller and paler than the female next to him. The jackdaw is the bird with the evil look in its eye!

  • Three of the best

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    A quick sort through our photo database reveals three of our favourite owl photos.

  • He’s a she!

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    The refugee has been making a habit of coming out and sitting on the ledge a few minutes before dusk, just perfect for a proper camera shot from the hide. Here he is in all his glory, only, erm, he is actually (we think) a she – the black spots on the flanks are usually only on the female.