05 December 2022
After the storm
A tea time this morning, the male was in the Evergreen Oak and the returned fledgling was on the lower roof near the carpark – all good. I then headed for Timber City for supplies . . . and got caught in a major hailstorm – ferocious winds; flashes of lightning; peals of thunder . . . and sheets of hail – including the odd ‘golf ball’.
Trying to get back to Delta Park was hectic. Fallen trees were blocking two of the three access roads to the park; overhead electric cables were lying in the road; more broken branches and drifts of hail were blocking the road to the Environmental Centre, and a tree had been snapped by the wind in the car park – total chaos!!
As soon as the weather eased, I went looking for the owls – no sign of either the male, or the returned fledgling. I carefully searched around the outside of the building, and then climbed out onto the back roof in case they had taken shelter under the overhang. No sign anywhere, but I could see the female moving in the nest box. An hour later I was up on the tower – and there was the rather bedraggled fledgling preening itself in the Willow below. At least it was safe!
Now holding thumbs that the male also somehow managed to survive – otherwise the new chick is in trouble!
By Geoff Lockwood