A wintry start to spring

Standard advice for siting owl boxes is to face them away from the prevailing south-westerly wind and rain. However the start of March saw a week of snow-storms driven across the UK on strong easterlies.

Tawny Owl(f) on bed of snow!

As a result several of our owl boxes have seen an ingress of snow. Though thankfully it seems not to have disrupted this Tawny Owl unduly (it hadn't yet started laying).

Whether this snowy cold snap has caused an increase in owl mortality, and will lead to a delay in egg-laying this year remains to be seen.