Over the summer many wildlife watchers contacted me with wildlife they had seen. It included unusual bird sightings, an osprey or a red start and more. Many butterflies were also seen and this year’s butterfly count has been up in numbers but many of the rarer species are not and they are still in decline, (warn the Butterfly Conservation Trust). However, around here it was wonderful to see commas, red admirals, peacocks, whites, blues and more.                                   

In September, the talk at our local branch of the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust was from Tony Peace who is a member of the World Owl Trust (WOT). The trust had its headquarters in Cumbria but that has closed and the birds located to various different sites while the new premises are being built. If you visit the website www.owl.org you can find out more about the charity and organisation and how their main objective is to try and breed owls to release back into the wild.

Tony told us that the barn owl in the UK has done well in the recent years and is now out of danger. However, it would only take a bad winter of prolonged rain or snow to quickly reduce numbers. This is because the feathers are soft and light for silent flight and are not weighed down with oil making them non-waterproof; then the bird cannot hunt and will starve. Locally, in our neck of the woods, the owls are faring pretty well. Some are helped by landowners leaving long grass areas to allow vole (their main diet) and other rodent numbers to increase and others provide good nesting sites in their barns and don’t use rodenticides and actually leave dead rodents for the owls. I asked about owls in our barn which is a modern tin construction but one end is boarded with wood and a box could be fixed into the apex. (It’s on my Christmas list!) I was worried about a busy road not far from the property, as owls dive low over roads and have a tendency to be hit by vehicles but Tony thought it was worth the risk and better to provide accommodation, especially as we have plenty of long grass and voles, moles and barn owls nearby.

There are plenty of barn owls around and great to watch at dawn and dusk. We also have plenty of tawnies. I love lying in bed and listening to the tawnies hooting. The little owls around here seemed to be on the decrease so the other week I was delighted to hear them. Then only tonight, the day of writing, I was walking in our field and I heard the chip chip of a little owl and there it was looking at me from the electricity pole. Wonderful!