Tipton's Croft

A field in Shropshire, England

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    A little late to the party but at last the change to warmer and wetter weather has brought them out of hiding. They’re everywhere already (and it’s only the first night).

    (photo editing: cropped and resized)

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    Finally we have a working hootycam (after the old ones were disabled by a squirrel), but an empty nest box and looks like it has been empty for a while. Plenty of time though: it wasn’t until March last year that barn owls first appeared.

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    After a long winter in hibernation frogs have started to appear in the pond. Not many yet but over the next few days they’ll be joined by toads and then there’s going to be one heck of a party!

    Common frog

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    One swan mussel. No idea where it came from because we haven’t put any in, but a welcome sight: swan mussels are native and good for the water quality. We hope there are more but they are quite shy, normally hiding in the mud at the bottom.

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    A wet start to the year with the field waterlogged and the pond almost full after the summer drought.

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    The water in the pond is now crystal clear thanks to the rain and cold weather (and no more digging pond extensions). The roach, perch and sticklebacks aren’t so keen though and they’re keeping to the deep water to avoid the herons who stalk around the margins.

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    Happy Christmas from Tipton’s Croft. The recent freezing weather, with six inches of ice on the pond (and a frozen borehole) has given way to more familiar dark, wet weather with the occasional welcoming blue sky.

    All is not quiet though. The barn owl is still around screeching at night, though isn’t roosting in either of the nest boxes. Herons, little egrets, snipes and wild ducks come to the pond where the roach and perch have retreated to the bottom, appearing only at night in torchlight.

    Haws and holly are the only colour in the hedges but goldfinches brighten the edges of the meadow as they feed on knapweed seed heads.

    Hopefully we will have visiting sheep soon to keep the meadow grass short until the wildflowers have a chance in the spring.

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    After a few weeks of no cameras in the nest box (thanks to something nibbling the cables up in the tree) we have fixed the technical issues and now have a good view of the inside of the nest box, where the new barn owl is settling in for the winter. She (see the black dots on her front) isn’t ringed and doesn’t look like our previous owls, so is likely new to the area.

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    The black blob on the bottom of the nest box is a fresh barn owl pellet and the first sign that an owl is around and might be interested in settling in.

    A search back through the nest box camera’s saved clips reveals all. The barn owl has been visiting for a couple of days and even rested all day on Friday. We don’t know if it’s male or female, or if it is one of the adults from this year (it is unlikely to be any of the fledglings). We can’t see if it is ringed yet either. Will let you know more when we do.

    Almost exactly to the day a barn owl starts to visit the nest box. It was 1 October when we first spotted one last year https://tiptonscroft.org.uk/blog/new-tenant/.

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    A week of filming the new shallow end of the pond shows how popular it is for birds.

    In order of appearance: carrion crows, jackdaws, magpies, wood pigeons, moorhens, a snipe and a sparrowhawk having a bath.

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    We have now identified 100 different wildflowers in the field. Some are common, some are rare, some were here before us, some we introduced and some arrived on their own. All of them are native or naturalised English wildflowers and though many of them would be considered weeds in a garden they are all welcome here!

    www.tiptonscroft.org.uk/blog/flora/

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    A female sparrowhawk has started visiting the pond to drink and bathe. The local pigeons had better keep a good lookout otherwise they’ll be breakfast!