Tipton's Croft

A wild field garden in Bomere Heath, Shropshire, England

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    The barn owls are hunting well during the recent cold dry nights, coming back with a mix of field voles, field mice and other small mammals (and probably a frog or two). In this clip the male comes out and flies off, followed by the female who tries to call for him but can’t make much of a noise because her mouth is full. She then does what barn owls do very well: she swallows her meal whole. Oh yum.

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    Both the female and the male are resting in the nest box today, after a night of hunting and ‘making eggs’. Predictions are for an increase in the number of field voles this year (‘Barn Owls in 2020: an update from Colin Shawyer’) so hopefully plenty of food, and no need for us to hand feed the hootlets this year, we hope.

    The new pair taking in their new realm at dawn before going in to sleep.

    Settling in for a day’s rest in their new home.

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    At last, and not too late for breeding this year, a pair of barn owls have appeared. They arrived last night with a lot of fussing and mutual preening on the ledge of the old nest box. The female has settled in to the box for the day and the male is probably roosting somewhere nearby. Fingers crossed for hootlets this year.

    We need to evict a squirrel from the other nest box to allow the owls to use it as a roost for when the old nest box gets too crowded (we hope).

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    Smooth (common) newt, female (probably)

    Now the frogs and toads have had their fun it’s time for the newts. There are a lot of them this year, both smooth and great crested but now the water has become so clear they are easy to spot and the visiting hungry heron quite likes them for breakfast. Today only the smoothest of newts wanted to be photographed.

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    Lesser Celandine emerges from the meadow.

    The recent cold spell has tried to pause life here at Tipton’s Croft but spring can never really be stopped. The hedgerows are full of white blackthorn blossom and the bright green of hawthorn leaf is beginning to show through. The growth of grass has slowed down in the meadow but wildflowers are beginning to emerge, with traces of lesser celandine the first to appear.

    The ponds are full of life with frog and toad spawn hatching into masses of black wriggly tadpoles and great crested newts seeking each other out. There are pairs of mallard ducks tentatively eyeing up the new island and a not entirely welcome heron visiting to sit in the shallows ready to pounce on anything that moves.

    The owl boxes are sadly empty of owls, and proving rather too tempting to the local jackdaws and stock doves, so we may need to block off the entrances to keep the boxes prepared for any passing barn owl that is looking for a nest.

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    … choose a bigger blade of grass to hide behind.

    (a pair of common toads)

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    It’s hard to keep track of them, and which is male and female (most of them are male we think), but they all seem to be having fun in the sun.

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    Independent young female, GSOH, good income (mostly field voles and mice), has own spacious home, looking for similar-minded partner for mutual preening on moon-lit nights. If he brings the food, she’ll lay the eggs. Offer open to single male barn owls only: no pigeons, jackdaws or squirrels please.

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    Doesn’t look like a fresh badger paw print though.

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    The first common toad of the year, all by himself. Won’t be long before his friends arrive.

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    The first sighting of mating frogs: this pair of common frogs appeared this evening and are enjoying themselves in the rain. There are likely to be many more appearing over the next few days. Spring can’t be far away!

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    We haven’t seen the male for four days, and today of all days the female is all alone in the nest box. There’s still a chance he’ll come back (he might have found a new roost to spend the day in), but on Valentine’s Day he should really be paying his girl some attention.