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WE HEAR a high-pitched calling near the canal, but it isn't quite like a normal bird of prey. A Little Owl is calling from the power lines in the corner of a field on the far bank, just 20 or 30 yards from us. It is the first I've seen for years, but people do occasionally mention seeing them. It is late afternoon, still full daylight, but it stays perched there, as a narrow boat chugs by. It suddenly looks more alert, less of a hunched up bundle, and flies off towards a small group of trees.
Wakefield Naturalists' Society
It's the first indoor meeting of the autumn. People reckon that it's been a poor year for ladybirds and wasps. We've seen only one or two ladybirds all year and considering that we've eaten out almost every day, the wasps haven't bothered us at all. The spectacular Hornets which nested in an old walled garden near Ackworth didn't return.
Grass Snakes have been reported again, some from the former Walton Colliery Site where they've been seen for some years. I've never seen one locally. There's still discussion about the Honey Buzzard we saw on the last excursion. What makes it seem more likely to me is that there are a few pairs breeding in the north. The talk this evening is on the spectacular bird life of Florida, as I write this Hurricane Floyd seems to have passed close by and to be heading for Carolina.
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Of the butterflies, Holly Blues have done well but Small Tortoiseshells have been much reduced in number and not many Painted Ladies have been seen compared with other years. Numbers of Southern Hawker dragonflies have been emerging from a garden pond, where they were seen on the wing earlier in the season.