So there I was flicking through this year's diary, partly to take stock of this tumultuous year, and partly to pick out the outstanding birds ..... and particularly, I wanted to see how many ( or rather) how very few owls I had come across. And later in the day me and The Significant Otter took a short drive to see my sister .... with full social distancing of course .... and then we had a little birdless walk, and then we set off home again ... and by then it was good "owling" time, and lo and behold, a fine Barn Owl flew right in front of us, and it flapped over a hedge and was gone . Luckily, the S.O. spotted it too. To put it in context, in my little area, owls have almost disappeared. It wasn't so long ago that Tawnys and Littles were pretty normal sightings/hearings, and other species ,though much scarcer, were occasionally around. But now they have almost vanished. Here's my" this year's owl list" .. 6th Jan 2120 hrs ... Male Tawny hooting just 100m from the house. 18th Feb Squashed Tawny Owl found on a road about half a mile from the house. It's such random incidents that can make a big difference. 781-news-both-good-and-bad.html 18th Aug Male and female Tawnys about 300m from the house at 10pm. And until today's Barn Owl that was it ... a meagre haul compared to the situation 5/10/20 years ago. I was driving the car the first time I heard this song on the radio .... and I pulled over and listened to it, absolutely spellbound.... and I still am.....
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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