15th November 2009 2009
One bonus resulting from the drawing in of the evenings is that it is now dusk at the end of the school day. To be in the school grounds at this time of day can be very interesting.
One evening last week, I and a colleague took members of the school’s Natural History Society into the school grounds for a brief walk at dusk. As soon as we got outside, we heard the pinging alarm calls of blackbirds from a number of directions. These calls provide a pretty good way of locating tawny owls and little owls in the grounds.
I know that a particular oak tree has been home to jackdaws and little owls in the past, so we headed towards that. As we approached the area of the tree, a bird did leave a nearby tree but it was a sparrowhawk. We were able to watch this as it glided down and across the nearby cricket pitch, without having to flap its wings at all.
Approaching the oak tree, we saw a bird move from one branch to another and then watched as a little owl flew from the oak, crossed a field and settled on the branch of a tall beech, where it remained, in silhouette, for several minutes. When it landed, the little owl started calling loudly and was answered by a second owl some distance away. Little owls can be very noisy and are often heard in the school grounds.
Many plants have finished flowering but I pass a patch of prickly sow-