As Halloween approaches thoughts turn to creatures of the night, fluttering bats and swooping owls. Owls are fascinating birds with heads that can rotate up to 270 degrees, asymmetrical ears and three eyelids! Their upper eyelid is for blinking, the lower eyelid closes when the owl is asleep and the third is called a nictitating membrane. This special eyelid moves horizontally outwards across the eye to protect the eyes when hunting, the eye is protected by the membrane but it can still see to catch prey!
The famous twit-twoo owl hoot is the call of a tawny owl, heard during the night and early hours. This is actually a male and female owl calling to each other – the female makes the ‘too-wit’ sound and the male answers with ‘too-woo’. Beautiful barn owls are successfully breeding in Warwickshire and checks done in 2017 found them nesting in 31% of the 420 boxes checked. These stunning birds usually hunt at night and have a distinctive screeching call. Their hunting skills are enhanced by their superior hearing and they actually have lop-sided ears , with one higher than the other! This helps them determine where tiny sounds are coming from. Have you ever been lucky enough to spot one swooping across fields? Try areas of rough grassland and scan the edges, alongside hedgerows, for your best chance!
Winter for water voles
Water vole numbers are in sharp decline and these cuddly mammals are at risk of extinction. With conservation efforts focused on improving their habitat and encouraging farmers and landowners to do the same, there is still hope for water vole recovery. However, with winter looming numbers are about to experience their seasonal drop; predation, lack of cover and reduced food all cause problems.
Water voles are less aggressive and not looking for a mate to breed with in winter, so they’re more likely to gather together in burrows. This helps them keep warm through the colder months, spending much of their time sleeping underground and rarely venturing out. Rather like squirrels, water voles do not hibernate so need to make an underground winter food store of tubers, bulbs and rhizomes.
Your own winter store of goodies!
It’s the season of fruitfulness and harvest and especially for crab apples, the wild relation of cultivated apples! As they’re so variable in size and colour it can be tricky to tell when they’re ripe. The best tactic is to cut one open and check if the seeds inside are brown – then they are ready to pick. With their natural tartness crab apples are best cooked rather than eaten straight from the tree and being high in pectin they’re great in jams and jellies. Give it a try and concoct your own sauces, chutneys or the classic crab apple jelly. Perfect paired with lots of other ingredients try adding a cinnamon stick, star anise or even a few chillies. And if you haven’t got enough crab apples add in some elderberries, rosehips or sloes.
#staywild
Louise Barrack
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust 