|  'I
haven't seen any voles around for a few days,' I said to Barbara earlier
today. A month or two ago we regularly saw short-tailed vole, field vole
and wood mouse scurrying around near the bird feeders, even during the
day.
Perhaps this is the reason: at dusk Barbara calls me to see a tawny
owl which is perched on the clothes post at the end of the lawn
by the pond. Over the years we've heard and seen tawny owls on the lamp-post
and telegraph poles at the front of the house but this is the first we've
seen actually in the garden.
 Because
of the voles, we moved the ground feeder into the middle lawn, away from
the cover of hedge and border near the patio. Perhaps the tawny owl noticed
the vole activity. 
Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk
|
