In an earlier blog, I wondered who had taken up residence in our large garden nest box. It was adopted by stock doves at the beginning of March but a few days later I saw jackdaws taking nesting material in and then all went quiet.

Just after I'd written my blog, on 21^st April I was sitting out at midnight watching shooting stars and satellites when I heard baby bird sounds from inside the box. I knew immediately what that meant - baby tawny owls! As in 2019 the owls had successfully ousted the jackdaws – and I imagine that took some doing.

By 9^th May I could see two young owls peeping out of the open fronted box and two days later they’d fledged. The youngsters can easily be located after dark as they call constantly for food, which presumably reminds their parents how hungry they are as well as where they are perched. Although one owlet had found its way up into the large oak tree, the other one was in a low hedge sitting in a holly shrub. Then I spotted the adult female owl below it standing guard, just two foot off the ground in the same hedge (that's her in the picture). I’ve never seen an owl sitting that low before and I was impressed by its excellent parental care!

Each evening as it gets dark I go outside to locate the owlets from their calls. They move around each night, ‘branching’ through the trees. They are now safe high up in our ssh tree where one sometimes watches me as I walk along the path below.

Rosemary Winnall is a naturalist and lives at Bliss Gate in north Worcestershire where she and husband Tony look after a large rural garden.