Owls

While talking to my neighbour on Saturday, I heard that a Tawny Owl was perched on the roof line a few days before. A couple of days earlier I too had briefly seen a Tawny Owl sitting perched on the crosspiece of my back gate. I had rushed to grab the camera but it was gone when I got back. It appeared to have been hunting a Robin that was hiding in the yard.

Well the Wood Mouse being the adventuresome sort, you can read that as being mad, set out on Saturday night to track where the Tawny Owl was ranging. In the Autumn it is often easier to find them as the young raised this year will be looking for their own territories and while this brings them into conflict with existing territory holders and resident pairs, by tracking the calls it is possible to discover where the residents are as well as track the juveniles as they look for suitable hunting grounds.

So that is what I did, or at least set out to do. It was just that Owls don't like flying in rain and when it really stared raining all three of the owls were caught out away from their perches and roosts. Two were females with one being a juvenile and the male who is the established territory holder. In the natural world it is normally the territory holder that retains a territory. Therefore had the juvenile been a male it would have been driven off. This juvenile female was obviously not one of their offspring as the male appeared to be encouraging her to stay. At one point even bringing her a mouse or a vole. All this in sight of the established female. This feeding of the juvenile female prompted some intense calling by the established female. Was this jealousy? Was the male likely to have been in the owls equivalent of the dog house? To be honest I could not tell. Its far to easy to project human emotions onto this but the behaviour was extraordinary.

The rain may have played its part in calming the situation, as soon after the male had fed the new female and there had been the intense fifteen minutes of calling by the old female, the heavens opened and all the owls hunkered down to escape the torrent. All the while, this Wood Mouse acted like a sponge.

Eventually in a gap in the rain the new female flew off and while I think I know where she went to roost I could not be sure. Not least because I stayed with the established pair and tracked them back to their roost.

If in the spring the other female is still around will the male be trying to mate with her too, only time will tell. It may be that the male goes off with the new female. It may be that the male is ensuring that he has the choice of two mates should one not make it through the winter. A rather damp night of observations has raised more questions than provided answers. I had set out to discover the roost site and I did find it. But this little interaction has provided a rather unique glimpse into the behaviour of owls.

While watching the owls was the main reason I was out, three times I a fox, I think it was a dog fox, out patrolling and hunting. Because of a knick in his left ear I was sure it was the same one. What ever he had found, he was returning to take more of this food. Each time he would eat some and then carry off some of what ever it was he had scavenged or killed. At the distance and in the dark I could not see what it was, but while I think it was scavenged, each time he dove onto the food as though he was hunting. This is rather typical fox behaviour as they do this as if they are trying to say I am a proper hunter! It was during the foxes last visit that I noticed a police car stop and the officer used a torch to scan the area. I had seen it go past twice and I did wonder if the officer(s) had seen me from the road. I was about one hundred and fifty or so yards from it, and while I was keeping concealed from the wildlife, I had no reason to keep out of the view of people. Well the beam of the torch found the fox and he scampered, but I did wonder if the police officer had seen me and had thought I was up to no good. It would not be the first time that has happened, nor I doubt will it be the last, but the intense beam of the torch did disturb the fox and the owls too. The dominant pair moved from their sheltering spots and I did think I was going to loose contact with them. But fortunately the rain was so intense they returned as soon as the police car moved off.

While it did not happen this time, people with flash lights are a real bane and bug bare of mine. My night vision is quite good and better than most folks, but this can be ruined by the careless use of a torch. Police officers are the worst offenders for this. Instead of directing the beam towards the ground, they will always direct the beam into the face. This the police are trained to do as it destroys the night vision and it will take several hours to regain. While I can understand that it can be a useful tool when dealing with a suspect, the intentional incapacitating of a persons night vision is extremely annoying.

I was rather tired and wet when I got back home, but a warm cat and a hot cup of tea works wonders. It was getting light before I got to bed and I was looking forward to a good few hours sleep. However, at about ten I heard the phone ring, I ignored it. Big mistake as it was my better half and the mobile rang. She must have thought that I was being very lazy still being in bed. I explained that I had been up and out all night. Well I had warned her that I kept odd hours sometimes and it has caused some minor tensions as there are times when I really can not be disturbed. But as we just laugh it off latter, it never really becomes a problem. I need to educate her to avoid calling the cell unless it is essential. While I could turn it off at times, there are occasions when I need it for emergencies.

It is a shame that on three occasions that I have had to call the fire brigade out to fires that people have started in the woods, unlawfully I should point out. Also I have several times needed to call the police to deal with poaching or some other act of stupidity.

In the main though it is nights like this that make all those minor hassles become insignificant and the delights of seeing and discovering new and unusual behaviour of the wildlife that secretly share our space.