A Little Owl. Sitting in a niche of ivy. Roosting in a kind of evergreen eye.

In all that London mess I spy him.
Athene Noctua.
A Little Owl. Sitting in a niche of ivy.
Roosting in a kind of evergreen eye.
Right in front of me - perfectly scaled down.
A murderous, white and brown white-speckled miniture raptor.
10 feet from the raucous main road.
The owl twists his head 180 degrees.
Looks right at me.
Yellow eyed, blinking once.
Shuts his eyes.
I can't mistake the envy I feel.
The simplicity of this life.
I envy him.
I envy the owl his simple savage self.
His absence of self doubt.
He stares straight at me seeing all, but indifferent to it.
He doesn't envy anyone.
He doesn't want anything I've got.

Little Owl, Streatham Common

This afternoon in broad daylight, thanks to Carl Zeiss (binocular maker), I had the best view yet of the Little owl on Streatham Common, after a big absence, at least as far as my spotting goes (though my friend Andrew did say he'd seen the owl recently, in his usual spot). I've been looking regularly but not seeing him, but this afternoon every detail was crystal clear. The owl looked right at me, about ten feet away, then twisted his head to the left and nodded off, he was roosting in the gap between two ivy covered trees, he was only about four or five feet off the ground, but protected by bramble bushes;  he didn't seem bothered by the traffic noise or the raucous fun-fair sounds near by. I am so glad he is still here, looking so round, soft and healthy, what a great day for bird watching! Especially the raptors. I also saw a female black cap (mother red cap?) in the woods higher up on Streatham  common earlier, as well as a great spotted woodpecker, green finch, chaffinch and chiffchaffs, but the Little Owl is such a thrill for me to see, largely spotted because I've been scanning trees systematically, determined to find where he roosts - heartening to know patience pays off. My telephone pictures are terrible, one day I'll get a real camera, but I still think you can see an owl shape in the gap between the trees. I'm assuming he's a he, but have no evidence, he might be a she...he/she is perfect, a beautiful, dazzling bird, a gem, I don't know why I'm so mad about them, perhaps it's their miniature, perfectly scaled down owlishness, they are archetypes of mystery, wisdom, secretiveness, sleepy hunting marvels, they stare straight at me seeing all, but indifferent to it....

Male sparrowhawk on nest? Unlikely?

The bird walk on Tooting Common early this morning was rather too cold and damp, so We peeled off after two hours and went back to Bedford Wood to take another look at the sparrowhawk nest, this time it looked very much like the male was on it, but the information I have read suggests this is unlikely, who knows? It certainly looked like him up there, though whether there are eggs in the nest yet is another question, we saw the male and female earlier in a maginifcient tussle with a group of magpies, well away from the nest, the view of the male sideways on was particularly magnificent, he is a handsome, rufous bird, and looked much longer through my Carl Zeiss birthday binoculars. I've just read that they don't mate with the same male, contrary to anthropomorphic anecdote, the female  goes off after they've reared the young successfully, while he stays behind, the following season she will pick the best mate.

Below, this is Streatham Wood.

We saw the pair in Bedford Wood mating on the 5th of April. If the gestation period is 32-35 days and that mating was successful, then sparrowhawk birthday(s) should be between the 8th & the 11 th of  May. the RSPB says this:
"Three to six eggs are laid at two-day intervals during May. Incubation lasts for 32-35 days and the eggs hatch in succession over two or more days, so that the chicks are different sizes. The female helps the chicks to break out of their shell. They are covered in pure white short down, and their eyes are already partly open when they hatch. " (RSPB.org)
Earlier we saw a female sparrowhawk being mobbed by a crow near Dr Johnson Avenue, then , another view of a sparrowhawk, female I am sure, by the whiter underwings, diving onto a pigeon, I'm wondering if it was the same female who took the catch back to the male, then we saw the magpies fighting them for it back in Bedford Wood, all very exciting. We saw greenfinches, heard a willow warbler, saw a female black cap. There was speculation that three long eared owls were seen before in the cafe wood - this sounds improbable, but you never know I guess! What a sight that would be.
It looked like we saw the male on the nest, but both sexes have bars on their tail feathers and white spots on their backs, so it's hard to say, I thought it looked like the male.
Re the idea of a male sitting on the nest, the RSPB book does not rule out the male taking part although most of the nest work is done by the female, the RSPB site states:
"  The female has sole care of the eggs and young, while the males' role (from egg-laying through to fledging) is to provide all food required by the female and the chicks. The female will hunt as the chicks get older, but only if the male is unable to catch adequate food by himself." (RSPB.org)  I'm sure we are going to see the chicks quite clearly in another 12 or so days. 



RSPB.org on sparrowhawks:

Sparrowhawk wiggling on the nest, others hear and see first cuckoo

I saw the Sparrowhawk wiggling on the nest today, others heard and saw the first cuckoo on Tooting Bec Common in 25 years - in the Bedford wood! I realise how lucky I was to hear a cuckoo last year in Sydenham Hill woods and the year or so before in Norwood Grove, hope I hear and see one this year. It was a moody day today though I escaped a soaking...

 These two images of Bedford Wood were taken seconds apart.

Sparrowhawk in her nest, turtle in Tooting ....

No idea how this chap arrived on Tooting Common but he looked pretty happy sunbathing this afternoon, under his neck he has striking yellow stripes, I sensed an intelligence when I looked at him and spoke, he was definitely listening...earlier I clearly saw the female sparrowhawk sitting in her high nest.

Woldingham walk: roe deer, fox, kestrel, buzzards

A great walk in the Woldingham area, through the forested hilltops and across rolling fields reminiscent of Ravilious drawings, straight away we saw a very big healthy fox walking down from a birch wood across the vivid green fields above the railway line, we also saw and heard many pheasants, saw Buzzards, a beautiful red male kestrel, badger's mounds, mistle thrushes, and two herds of wild roe deer, the first group had two adults and a young one, the second had 8 deer including a couple of young ones, coming out of a wood then skipping away from us wagging their small tails very fast. Huge white gliders flew above the fields near Kenley. The blue-bells were out and there were carpets of wild garlic as far as the eye could see in places, though not flowered yet, we saw many butterflies - brimstones, orange tips, peacocks, no St Geoerge's mushrooms today, St Geoerge's day, but evidence of tattooed enthusiasts at East Croydon station and the cross of St George flying from van windows.  We saw hardly anyone else the whole day. This is lovely, quite dramatic countryside, one irritating aspect of it is the drone of the M25 from some of the Southern most high points of the circular walk. It's also astonishing to me to see such obvious affluence - side by side with purple UKIP signs, it's hard to understand what they imagine they are suffering from in a location which most people, I'm sure, would describe as an affluent paradise - everything looked so clean and perfect, the cars in the station car park were almost all top-of-the-range and new, the houses are vast and sparklingly well kept, there is no sign of material suffering here at all. So what is it all about? 

The day was hot, contrary to all forecasts, with perfect blue skies, an utterly perfect day of walking and soaking up sun and green fields and forests...I'll definitly come back here again.

Saw the female sparrowhawk on her nest

I saw the female sparrowhawk on her nest today in the Tooting woods, the male was close by keeping an eye out, what a great sight, hope to see sparrowhawk  chicks soon, saw a moorhen chick on the tooting pond earlier this week and the kestrel over Streatham common and the White House. A very poor picture below of the male sparrowhawk in a tree, the one below that was sunrise on the hop farm I went to two weeks ago..