I was away from home for two months earlier in the year and, not wishing to impose too much on my very good neighbours, I didn’t ask anyone to feed my tawny owl. (If you have read my previous blogs, you will know all about the owls in our garden, which I have been feeding for a little over 4 years)

As soon as I got home, I started leaving out a day-old chick but my trailcam picked up one of our magpies collecting it early morning. It soon became obvious that the tawnies were nesting again in the box in the old apple tree so I knocked a post into the ground right in front of the box and placed my trailcam on a tripod nearby. That did the trick and now, the male owl is collecting his chick every night and taking it into the box. Interestingly, he seems to have taken a liking to my camera also as he keeps sitting on it with his tail blocking the lens.

For the past few nights and days, the female has started sitting on the edge of the box and I can only assume that it is getting crowded inside. Last night she was sitting out and a mouse was eating seed spilled from the bird feeders. As I watched her, the owl’s head began moving from side to side and it was fairly obvious she had spotted the mouse. Then came the attack – swift and silent, she flew towards the house and collected the mouse, returning to the box, presumably, to feed it to her youngsters. And I notice that the baby rats which had been feeding there a couple of days ago seem to have disappeared…

A male blackbird is in constant attendance near the nest, alarm calling and making her flinch by swooping past her face when she is sitting out.

It’s a privilege to have these birds in the garden. We have had 10 youngsters so far and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the box will soon reveal one or two more. Yesterday, there was some flapping going on inside the box and the female was conspicuous by her absence during the daytime. She flew into the box around 8pm and sat on the edge. I assume the young can now be left alone for periods of time and I suspect one or more might emerge before too long. I’ll keep you updated…

27th April, junior appears alongside mum.

30th April, another one appears…

And I think there are now three because I found this one sitting in the spruce tree…

3rd May in the morning, mum was sitting on the edge of the box and after a bit of careful searching, I spotted 2 owlets snuggled together right at the top of the apple tree. This when, last night, there was another at the other side of the garden. So, I’m fairly certain now that there are 3 chicks and that’s a winner!