Sorry about my typo last month when I confused months with moths. On the other hand, perhaps I should have been talking about moths. In almost two decades of monitoring moth populations I have been really shocked by how few there have been during April and early May. The constant frosty nights have held back the emergence of so many early spring species and I am left wondering if they will actually appear at all this season. During that lovely warm period at the end of March numbers peaked at around 50 but since then I have been able to count the number on the fingers of one hand, whilst some nights there have been none at all. Then there is the adverse knock on effect on insectivorous birds – they must be going hungry at times!
Do you remember the little owl box I told you about last year? Recently a swarm of bees moved in and dislodging them from 20 foot up a ladder, holding onto a branch with one arm, whilst smoking them out and scooping them into a box with the other was incredibly difficult. In less than a week they had produced a large amount of wax and had drawn it out into a honeycomb – a thing of great beauty and we marvelled at the all those uniform hexagonal cells. Some also contained honey, which dripped out to be licked up by us! We managed to wire most of the salvageable comb onto empty frames, fitted them into a new hive and transferred the captured queen and workers into their new home, where they now appear to be prospering.
The really surprising find was a nest in the inner chamber, which ties up with us finding a dead nestling under the tree last year, although there had been neither sight nor sound from the parents. As the female lays about four eggs I am left asking myself a number of questions. Did any actually fledge last year? Do Little Owl nestlings predate their siblings, as Barn Owls do, or was the nest actually only made this year and the owls were evicted by the bee swarm?
Despite the cold weather our hedgehogs are out and about and appear to be well fed. There is so much in the media these days about these lovely animals, which are now considered to be critically endangered. Luckily all still seems to be well in our part of Devon.
Paul (841696)
