Return of our owl

This morning the blackbirds were kicking up a louder than usual yammering. A quick glance up at the telephone wires, and yes there she was. Our tawny owl was back. We've heard the owls hooting virtually every day for the last couple of weeks and they have been very active in the evenings but this is the first re-appearance of 'our daytime owl'. And very welcome she was too (we assume she's a female because of the size).
Add to that yesterday evening a big bat was heard patrolling the vicinity, the bat detector came out and at around 22mhtz we heard the squelch of a noctule. this adds to the pipistrelle we detected a few weeks ago.
So all the nighttime beasties had better be aware, the predators are out and active.

Not enough time...

Well we've been rather busy, there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day or days in the week so the sooner we find an admin assistant the better!
Last week's CJS Weekly did go out as usual, it was 13 pages with 90 new paid posts of which 33 came direct to CJS. This week's edition is huge! It's 15 pages plus a training calendar for June of five pages AND this week's edition has a Special Edition supplement which is eight pages all about Access & Rights of Way. I just hope your mail box, be it physical or electronic, is big enough for it all…
Whilst the rest of the country has been basking in sunshine we've been shivering under sea frets which pushed over the hill, rolled down into the valley and stayed there. Yesterday brightened up a bit but today is grey and gloomy (very Eeyoreish) again. However, on Monday our Owl came back to visit us and sat on the phone wires for several hours until it was virtually completely dark before she went off hunting. On the not so good side a rabbit has also been sighted in the garden, the dogs saw it off, Hebe did a wonderful Tigger impression and almost bounced right over the wall, and so far there's no evidence of damage to any of the plants. AW is hearing the patter of tiny (webbed) feet, two goslings have hatched and are making their first excursions into the great outdoors.

Owls, post and CJS Weekly.

The young owl has been on the wires next door today, it was here when we started work and stayed for most of the morning it had gone by lunch time but returned by the end of the day (which is round about nowish!)

By now you should all have received last week's edition of CJS. This week's is now printing and we will post it out as normal – however there is to be a series of strikes by CWU members which will severely affect deliveries. If your copy doesn’t turn up do please contact us for the temporary access details to download the missing editions from the website. Monday 15 October edition is nine pages containing 55 new paid posts of which 27 were sent direct to CJS. We're working on the results from your surveys and hope to have some answers for you soon.

We have owls - aren't we lucky

You may remember last year we told you about our 'daytime owl' who hoots during the day – often at lunchtime. This year it's gone one better and has been visiting us. She (we're sure she's a she!) arrives and sits on the phone wires going to the house next door - a matter of yards from the CJS office window. Some days she turns so her tummy is bathed in the warm sunshine and basks and in the pouring rain she huddles under the eaves in the dry. And then as if daytime visits weren't enough one evening she brought her owlets! None of them were in slightest bit bothered by us, the dogs or even the flash from the camera. To see the results click here.

The lull before the storm?

After a busy few days (perhaps that should be weeks) it's finally beginning to slow down and we've had time to think. We're using the lull to catch up on a few things and to start planning a few new features.

Yesterday we published the first Special Edition of 2007, it features Seasonal and Volunteer work and is packed full of useful information and loads of adverts. So have a read.

The outlook on the owl box is not looking good, the proposed tree is too straight which means the box would be vertical and the branches are all at nearly 90º to the trunk so on these limbs it would be horizontal not at all want a homeless Tawny want. Our next plan of campaign is to try work out a way to fix the box at an angle, with perhaps a wedge between the back of the box and the trunk.

The weather has been balmy, once again you could almost believe it's spring – but last time we said that it snowed for a week. On one of the intake fields a large flock of lapwing has been seen wheeling in the wind and crying out across the moor fringes, but so far no curlew, once they arrive we know the seasons really have turned the corner.

We're off to eat pancakes now - don't forget the lemon juice!

Valentine's day.

Folklore has it that today's the day when the birds choose a mate, it's also the launch of Nestbox week see The Wildlife Trusts Home Tweet Home
With this in mind we've been looking at the nesting sites around the CJS Office, there are several artificial house martin nests under the eaves and a couple of traditional nest boxes which despite being a moved a couple of times have yet to attract that first time buyer. The garden and surrounding countryside obviously has sufficient suitable sites. We know that blackbirds nest in the ivy climbing up the fence, house sparrows in the climbers especially the clematis and both wrens and blue tits must nest close by as we see the newly fledged young later in the year. However just across the lane during the winter five mature deciduous trees including a beautiful horse chestnut, plus several more shrubby ones such as alders, were felled for safety reasons and now there is large gap. Which raises concerns for our owls, of which there are many mostly vociferous ones. So we're looking for a suitable site for a tawny owl tube, there are a couple under consideration. We'll let know which if either proves acceptable.

More jobs and even more birds.

A flurry of jobs to start the week, see Daily Online for the latest.

We did the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch yesterday, gave ourselves headaches trying to count the chaffinches. But anyway here's what we saw – Blackbird 4; Blue Tit 2; Brambling 1; Carrion crow 3; Collard Dove 2; Dunnock 1; Goldfinch 4; Great tit 2; Greenfinch 11; House sparrow 3; Jackdaw 2; Robin 1; Song thrush 1; Woodpigeon 1; Wren 1. Just before we started our hour's counting a family of 7 long-tailed tits visited but they didn't return and during the hour we heard but did not see a Tawny owl. But it got us to thinking, we've not seen any siskins this year, last year we had flocks of them but not a one this year – although the red nut feeder fell apart to be replaced by a green one so perhaps that's why.

Advance warning, on Wednesday (31/1/07) we've having some essential work done to our server so we'll be offline, probably all day. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.