The owl files – Chapter 4: Some hopeful signs . . .

25 July 2023

Some hopeful signs .   .   .  

For the past few days, the female has been sitting tight in the box – lying up against the back wall and apparently incubating. There was  no sign of the egg “that had been left out in the cold”, and I couldn’t see if it, or any other eggs that she might have laid, were safely under her. Last night I waited for her to leave the nest and then popped up the ladder to check on the contents – three eggs grouped together where she had been lying.

Given the fact that the first egg was left uncovered for several days, it is highly unlikely to hatch, .   .   . and as for the other two? – we will only know if they are fertile in a month’s time.

By Geoff Lockwood