Night on a working farm is not quite completely quiet or completely dark. The surrounding fields are cloaked in darkness and the sky above is filled with stars. Across this nightscape we hear the ‘seep’ of calling redwing, returning for the winter. Tall buildings loom out of the black, their angular lines and features illuminated … More The Owl of Athena
The afternoon sun was low in a blue sky with just a few wisps of white cloud. Sunbeams slanted through the trees and bushes, turning the tops of the reeds, heavy with seeds, golden yellow. It was the last weekend in September and with the final early start at our reed bed site the following … More Pretty in Pink
The house sits on a slight rise, surrounded on two sides by fields of long grass backed by tall Breckland pines. On its other side is a cool, dark woodland with trees that creak in the wind and which merge into the shrubs and flowering trees of a garden. Behind the house is an enclosed … More The Owl Family
Despite the blanket of grey white cloud overhead, soft green light filtered through the forest canopy. Among the dark crinkly leaves and branches of the forest floor the occasional green fronds of new bracken growth had begun to unfurl. It had only been a few weeks but we were back in Thetford Forest checking our … More Forest Rounds
The Forest was bursting into life, shaking off the muted and quiet shades of winter and blooming in celebration of Spring. Across all the trees and bushes leaves were unfolding in a multitude of shades of green, adding lighter shades to the deeper evergreens of the pines. Set against this green is the skeleton of … More Spring in the Forest
It was a gorgeous, balmy, sunny evening. The bright blue sky clear above the sparkling greens of the forest. Everything seemed to glow in the long rays of sunshine as the sun headed for the horizon. Bright yellows of broom and gorse added a brilliant splash of colour to the palette of greens and browns … More Having a Hoot in the Forest
During the winter of 2015 / 2016 we spent some time setting nest boxes up in a couple of areas of Thetford Forest. The boxes were tall with a wide square opening at the top, and a little perch sticking out at a right angle. They were attached high up on selected trees, always in … More Nest Box Surprise
The New Year dawned slowly and drearily in North Wales. Low cloud and rain obscured the view from the hill side, rivulets of rain drops ran like miniature rivers down the window so it was almost impossible to see out. It was not the kind of morning you wanted to head outside, but rather one … More The New Year
It was the end of a hot September day, one of the hottest in over 100 years in fact. The brilliant blue sky overhead became gradually more washed out as the sun sank behind trees and houses, tinging the wisps of white cloud golden yellow. Under this sky a small group of people head across … More September Owlets
The day was spent managing the habitat at Cranwich. Our lovely reed bed and gravel pits were slowly being over taken by trees such as willow and alder. While stands of such trees do provide habitat for a range of wildlife, it is not so good for the species were are trying to promote here, … More Scrub Bashing and Bird Ringing
