Sunrise 04:39 (BST) Sunset 21:14 (BST) sunny intervals 23°C 16°C Northerly Wind (6 mph) 1018 Humidity 72

The woods were quiet. Exceptionally so and I wondered why. Of course, the Rooks chicks had fledged. Ah…peace! I did some filming and had a light lunch. The vegetation is now so high that it’s quite impossible to see anything of the wildlife in the wood. So, I decided to wander around the edges of the wood and into the surrounding fields.

I was delighted to find some wild Iris on the waste ground. I explored a nearby ditch and found some newts popping up to the surface for air. It looked as though they were Common newts, but this area does have some of the rarer Great crested variety. It was difficult to tell as the water was a little murky.

Sitting for some time by the ditch, I also noticed my first sightings of this years Damsel and Dragonflies. I remember seeing the same species of Broad bodied chaser with the males bright blue body. The damselfly was the Common blue (I think).

Moving further into the meadowland I was delighted to see some Bee orchids. I’d identified the leaves earlier in the spring and was pleased to see that I wasn’t too far out location wise. I counted about a hundred different plants. Although not rare, they are quite localised and it might be years before they flower in exactly the same location. The flower is a mimic of a female bee. The male bee tries to mate with the flower and therefore takes the pollen away and tries again with another bee orchid, thus pollinating that flower.

The wind dropped and the sun came out as evening approached. I clambered back into the van and was heading toward the badger sett. It was getting dusk when I was suddenly overtaken by a Barn owl flying low and only a few feet away. Didn’t he know there was a speed limit along this road? I noticed he was carrying a small rodent. Guessing that he must be returning to the nest with a meal I desperately tried to follow. Knowing there was some disused buildings up ahead, I guessed that this was where he was heading. It must have been an interesting sight. Van alba follows Tyto alba!

I came to halt by the disused buildings only to see, to my disappointment, the owl veer off toward another field. Just as I was about to carry on, he made a sudden right turn and started the final approach path directly toward the building I’d parked in front of. A soft landing at the top of the building, a dart inside to drop off the meal, a quick turnaround and he was off again, this time alighting on top of a building about 40 yards away.

By this time I was out of the van with the camera but it was too far for a decent shot. Although he appeared to be staring at me, he must have considered me no threat as he took off, flying away from me to carry on hunting for his hungry brood. I quickly moved in closer and a few minutes later he returned, perched on a nearby post complete with new catch and after a short pause (and what looked like a quick nibble as well) he flew into the nest once again.

The nest is only a few minutes away down the road, so I think this will be a regular visiting spot for me.

I finished the evening with some badger watching. I was a little late due to the Barn owl sighting and placed myself this time at the front of the sett. After about an hour I … fell asleep. The badgers could have been having a party and I wouldn’t have known about it. At midnight I went home.

Despite the lack of badger sightings (yet again) it was a great day for wildlife.

I probably won’t be doing a mid week post next week as I’ll be migrating data to my new laptop. Gone will be the burning sensations and indentations of a hot and weighty Pentium 4 laptop on my legs and the noise of the laptop fan!

See you next weekend.

Thanks for the visit,

Pablo.