13 January 2023 Branched!! I was out early this morning to check on the rat trap .  .  . nothing; up to the roof, up the ladder to check on the chick .  .  . nothing visible .  .  . so downstairs and out onto the back roof. A fruitless check for the chick under […]

20 January 2023 A roller-coaster ride .   .   .   . and a magical evening! On Tuesday evening I heard the angry HOOO!!! threat calls of an adult coming from the Tea Garden and I rushed downstairs to see what was upsetting the owls. There were some people walking their dogs in the Tea Garden, while […]

09 January 2023 Some Progress For the past week, the male has moved from his ‘normal’ roost in the Evergreen Oak and has been roosting with (but not next to) the female in the River Bushwillows in the Tea Garden – the first time the ‘pair’ has been roosting together in several months. Initially, he […]

03 January 2023 Figuring things out I’ve been less than complimentary about the female’s strange behaviour when she started laying a second clutch just after her first brood had fledged, and also when she seemed to be taking more than her share of the food I was supplying to support the chick. Over the past […]

30 December 2022 This is no “Mother of the Year” candidate!! For the past few days the new chick has been on the roof below the box, with the female spending most of the day in one of the River Bush-Willows in the Tea Garden. When I check on the chick, sometimes only its’ feet […]

26 December 2022 37 days old .  .  .  . and out and about. When I looked over the wall this morning to check on the chick, the female was on the roof next to the nest box .  .  . and the nest was empty. Looking more closely though, I could see the chick […]

22 December 2022 Thirty three days old .   .   . and slow progress! Because of the tiny size of the new chick, I’ve been increasing the supplementary feeding. Three mice yesterday morning; another three this morning .   .   . and four just now. I can’t be sure how much the chick is getting, and how […]

20 December 2022 Failing experiment ? When I got back from ‘our’ trout farm on Monday afternoon, there was a guy photographing something in the Willow Tree – the fledgeling was back. After unpacking and taking everything upstairs, I thawed some mice and headed downstairs to see if the young owlet needed a support feed. […]

15 December 2022 Twenty-five days old When I looked over the wall to check on the nest at 12:30 today, I was greeted with a barrage of rapid-fire bill-clicks from the chick. It was standing upright, and also gave me a spread-wing threat display – so it’s’ behavioural development seems to be going fairly well. […]

12 December 2022 Some good news at last After being missing for several days, the remaining fledgeling was reported on the car park awning yesterday evening – but I only got the report this morning. Before its’ disappearance, someone had reported that it was behaving strangely and seemed to have a neck injury – so […]

09 December 2022 Worrying times For the past few days, one of the first brood chicks has been roosting in the Willow in front of the Centre. What is worrying however is that it is obviously hungry and has been coming down onto the ground around the Centre in the early afternoon – yesterday at […]