Close encounters of the natural kind.

It's been a while since I've felt I had anything to update my blog with as this Summer has been a bit of a damp squib round these parts. Interesting nature walks have been few and far between, unfortunately. However I have recently had one or two lucky encounters with barn and tawny owls, a fox, hare, stoat and a beautiful but menacing sparrowhawk which has been stalking my bird table.
Apologies in advance for the poor photo quality. These were taken either through windows (dirty ones!), from long distances and/or in the failing light of evening. A more professional photographer would have captured clearer images I'm sure; I'm not going to worry about that though!
 

I came across the hare whilst crossing a field on a little used footpath. It was my first sighting of a wild hare and I watched him grazing for some time before he suddenly seemed startled and headed for a nearby wooded area. The unmistakable loping gait confirmed he was indeed a hare and not a rabbit.

I didn't manage to get photos of the Fox, as it was a very brief encounter and too dark for my camera to handle.  



Nor did I manage to photograph the Tawnies which have been calling to each other every evening around the area where I live. I first heard them when I was putting food out for my nightly hedgehog visitors. Turning around to come back into the house I was very surprised to see two of them, sitting side by side on my television aerial; so exciting! I haven't heard them calling the last couple of evenings as I've had my skylights shut because of the rainy weather. I'm hoping they'll be back though.

I often go out on "owl patrol" on summer evenings, in the hope of spotting my favourite, the Barn Owl. On one such evening I was on my way home with my family after an unsuccessful search and feeling a little disappointed when I spotted one as I was driving past some derelict buildings. After watching for a while we left, but returned a few evenings later to see if we would be in luck again.
Imagine our excitement when we saw not one, but two Barn Owls hunting and bringing prey to what was evidently their nest site.
I must stress here that it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb barn owls at an active nest site with eggs or young or before eggs are laid, or to disturb the dependent young.   Legal status...
With this in mind we positioned ourselves well away from the nest site and waited, binoculars at the ready. Before too long the parent birds came with food for their young. Even at a distance we could hear the unmistakable hissing of the chicks.

Barn Owls prey mainly on Field Voles, Common Shrews and Wood Mice. There was evidently a good supply in the rough grassland and fields in this area, as the parents brought back prey at regular intervals as we were watching.
An adult will eat 3-4 prey items per night, if weather conditions are favourable. Their silent hunting ability is a double edged sword however, as they are unable to store much in the way of fat reserves and their feathers are not waterproof. This means that they can't hunt in rainy weather and that in turn means any young they have don't get any food either. In prolonged rainy spells the older and therefore bigger and more dominant chicks sometimes resort to eating their siblings in order to survive.
Happily though, this appeared to be a successful year for this owl family. We counted four well developed chicks, but there could very easily have been more.

 

 

It's been several weeks since I've seen any sign of the Barn Owls; fingers crossed they all managed to successfully fledge and have dispersed to their new territories. 

I had a completely unexpected but nevertheless delightful encounter with a very inquisitive stoat, which popped up out of the undergrowth right next to me while I was waiting to take some sunset photos one evening. The lovely little creature soon disappeared again, but two minutes later it was back to check me out. I was amazed at how close it came to me, less than two feet away. 

Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope you've enjoyed the photos!

Four and Twenty Blackbirds (and their assorted companions).

Many people would shudder at the "messiness" of my garden. I myself shudder at the "tidiness" of some gardens as I feel that there can be not much room for wildlife in such manicured, slug free, weed-sprayed surroundings. A garden without wildlife is a very sterile and uninspiring place, in my opinion. Each to their own, of course, but this post is for those who love nature as much as I do!
This has been a bumper year for fledglings in my garden, despite a few nest raids by the local magpies. In particular a pair of blackbirds have been dogging my footsteps looking for food for their four hungry chicks.

Three of the blackbird fledglings, soaking up the sun

Blackbirds love overripe pears or apples. I always check the "Whoops!" counter in the supermarket for a cheap (no pun intended) purchase. Note the daisies in the lawn, messy but beautiful.

Feed me!

Occasionally breakfast is a bit more of a mouthful. This huge moth took some swallowing, but after several attempts it finally went down.

 
A family of Blackcaps spent a few hours looking for insects in my rambling Rose, one afternoon. 

As some of you already know, we had nine Blue Tit fledglings from our nesting box.They stayed around the garden for a few weeks, being fed by their parents.

 

One of my favourite garden birds is the Long Tailed Tit. I've had a flock of at least ten visiting the feeders for the past couple of weeks. They are so sweet!

 Mr & Mrs Bullfinch are shy, but they do come down to the feeders from time to time. 

The resident Wrens are now on their second brood. Heard more often than seen, they call endlessly to one another under the dense cover of the native hedging we've planted along the perimeter of the garden. Occasionally, when the cat is out and about, the parents will come out of hiding to shout at the offending feline.

  A family of Dunnocks is also on its second brood. The youngsters are following Mum backwards and forwards as she teaches them how to find food for themselves.

Last but definitely not least, Britain's favourite bird the Robin is also on its second brood in my garden. In fact, if you include a nest that was abandoned with five eggs in it after a blackbird built its nest on the roof of the Robin nestbox, this is technically the third attempt!

Thanks for visiting, I hope you've enjoyed the photos!

Ne'er cast a clout, till May be out

The ancient English proverb "Ne'er cast a clout, till May be out" can be interpreted in several ways. One meaning is 'don't change out of your winter clothes until June, as there can often be a cold spell of weather in May'. Another, which somewhat contradicts the above, makes reference to 'May' as the common name of the hawthorn bush, whose blossom in the month of May indicates the arrival of summer, or warmer weather.

Certainly in Cumbria in 2015 it has definitely been a case of not putting your winter clothes away. The daytime temperature has struggled to rise above 13 or 14°C.  Yesterday's severe weather warnings across the county proved to be accurate, with howling gales and lashing rain, making it feel more like November than the first day of June! Despite this, Mother Nature has been busy putting on a show in the form of early flowering clematis, native wild flowers and the beautiful but all too brief apple and cherry blossom.

Ornamental Cherry

Clematis Montana

Crab Apple blossom

Crab Apple blossom

Red Clover & Purple Vetch

Gorse

Bird's Foot Trefoil

Bugle

In spite of the unseasonal weather, the month of May has brought a flurry of activity to the garden in the form of fledgling birds of all kinds. A very vocal family of Great Tits have been making themselves at home in the Willow tree. The fledglings have been running their exhausted parents ragged with their constant demands for food.

News about the live mealworms I'd been putting out for the Great Tits soon spread through the grapevine, it would seem. Before too long birds of every kind were waiting for me each morning.


 




A pair of Robins and their offspring...

A Dunnock with its newly fledged chick...

A huge family of chirpy sparrows...

A gorgeous family of my favourite bird, the Long Tailed Tit...

Mr & Mrs Blackbird scooping up as many mealworms at one time as they possibly can, for their chicks waiting in the nest behind my garden fence...

So all in all it has been a very poor May weather-wise, but a very busy and rewarding May in every other way.  Hopefully tonight's moon is a sign that better weather is on the way!

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you've enjoyed the photos.