Just before 8 o’clock this morning I was going outside to feed the cats and open up the animals when……….I saw a pair of white, fan shaped wings descending towards the ash tree beside the front gate. The face of the owl was looking at me and I was looking at the owl. It elegantly folded in its wings and disappeared into a hollow near the top of the old tree

We used to see a number of barn owls when we first moved here but when we did a large building project they were disturbed and disappeared. Over the last year or so we have seen them occasionally, sometimes in the dead of night when one flew past our bedroom window.

My concern now is that for the past three years Jackdaws have nested in the ash tree beside the gate. Will the jackdaws push out the owl or will the owl stake first claim to the tree?