Tawnies return.

 A very welcome sound last night, after months of absence, were the calls of two Tawny Owls from somewhere just to the north of the church. The 'hoooooooh........ho, ho ho,ho, hoooooooh call' comming from both birds is commonly associated with male birds, but this is debatable, as is the idea that the sharp 'kewick' often heard as well comes from female birds. Young owls disperse at the latter end of the year looking for new territories to occupy, which is probably what these two were up to. For many years tawny owls lived in the Manor House coachhouse and could be heard nightly,but  conversion into a flat put a stop to that.Perhaps the Green Martinstown group could consider buying an owl nesting box and installing it on one of the farms to the north of the village.And how about a webcam to go with it!