February 22nd Meeting

The February meeting of the Louth Area Group of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust featured a talk by Gary Steele on Barn Owls. Unlike most birds, owls have forward looking eyes, giving them faces that we humans can identify with, which, suggested Gary, explains their popularity and significance in our culture. He said they have a great many local and common names and the Barn Owl Trust lists these:

·        Banshee ·        Barn Owl ·        Barnyard Owl ·        Berthuan ·        Billy Whit ·        Billy Wise ·        Billy Wix ·        Cave Owl ·        Cherubim ·        Church Owl ·        Common Owl ·        Death Owl ·        Delicate Owl ·        Demon Owl ·        Dobby Owl

·        Farmer’s Friend ·        Gilli-Howlett ·        Gil-Hooter ·        Ghost Owl ·        Golden Owl ·        Hissing Owl ·        Hobby Owl ·        Hobgoblin Owl ·        Hoolet ·        Jenny Howlet ·        Madge Howlett ·        Moggy ·        Monkey-faced Owl ·        Night Owl ·        Oolert

·        Rat Owl ·        Roarer ·        Screaming Owl ·        Screech Owl ·        Scritch Owl ·        Silver Owl ·        Stone Owl ·        Straw Owl ·        Ullet ·        White Breasted Owl ·        White Hootlet ·        White Owl ·        Woolert ·        Yellow Owl

Lincoln Cathedral has eight stone carvings of barn owls and Tennyson wrote a poem:

The Owl

When cats run home and light is come,

And dew is cold upon the ground,

And the far-off stream is dumb,

And the whirring sail goes round,

And the whirring sail goes round;

Alone and warming his five wits,

The white owl in the belfry sits.

When merry milkmaids click the latch,

And rarely smells the new-mown hay,

And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch

Twice or thrice his roundelay,

Twice or thrice his roundelay;

Alone and warming his five wits,

The white owl in the belfry sits.

Lincolnshire has the highest barn owl count of any county but even here numbers are not what they were. In the 1930 there may have been 15,000 pairs but by the 1980s the figure had dropped to about 4,000. There has been a recovery since then, the number of pairs now standing around 8,000. Schedule I protection and the efforts by conservation minded farmers and others may have helped. The principle prey species, the short tailed field-vole, is key. The loss of rough grassland and the phasing out of mixed farming in favour of arable probably accounts for the barn owl’s decline. Recently wildlife-friendly farm management practices such as leaving wider field margins has compensated for some of the loss.

Naturally the barn owl nests in holes in trees, but there are now few suitably large, old and decaying trees. Old barns and sheds are used by the owls as substitutes but modern farm buildings do not provide the same opportunities as traditional barns and outhouses. Many nest sites are now artificial and Gary’s efforts over many years to install owl boxes on poles, in old buildings and, particularly, in church towers, have given the barn owls of eastern Lincolnshire new opportunities.

To find out more about barn owls there is no better starting place than The Barn Owl Trust website.

Other information:

Lincs Wildlife Trust

What they sound like

Scarborough Nixon

The definitive book is The Barn Owl by D.S Bunn, A.B Warburton, R.D.S Wilson

Here's an online preview.

For the artistically minded here is a handy guide to drawing owls:

1. Draw some circles.

2. Draw the rest of the owl.

Report on Watch Meeting Fossils 17-3-19

The subject of  our meeting on Sunday March 17th at Spout Yard Gallery  was 'Fossils'. It is obviously a very popular subject as seventeen children came to learn more about them.

As children arrived they were each given a word-search on fossils.

We were very lucky that Stuart Sizer, an expert, had agreed to come and tell us about Fossils.

We first watched his short film telling us what fossils are and how they were formed.

Stuart  had brought a large tray containing  sand and small pebbles. He encouraged the children to search in the tray for anything they thought could be a fossil. The children were able to keep any fossils that they found. They were all very keen to join the hunt with the result that each child found several small fossils to take home.

Each child was also able to make a fossil. Plaster was mixed with water to make a paste and a small quantity  put in a pot . A shell was pushed into the top of the mixture and then covered with sand. When the plaster had set, the sand and shell were removed to reveal the outline of a 'fossil' shell in the plaster.

Fossils were also made by pressing shells and other objects into plasticine medallions .  The children also created their own decorated fossils.

We paused during the afternoon for refreshments that had kindly been donated by Louth Co-op.

Overall it was a very productive, if noisy, afternoon.

CHAIRMAN’S JOTTINGS MARCH 2019

SPEAKER MEETING 29 March, 7.30pm at Nichol Hill Church. Alan Lazenby will ask us, ‘How well do you know your beetles?’ and will fascinate us with details about this huge group of insects. The entry fee, including refreshments, is £2.50. Children are most welcome and have free entry.

NOTICES
MEMBERS INPUT
The AGM approaches. After a short AGM on 26 April it will be your opportunity to have up to 10 minutes to show wildlife photographs or to give a brief wildlife presentation. Please let me know if you are prepared to let us share your pictures or your knowledge. Give me your pictures on a memory stick and I will put them on my computer for you to display at the meeting.

The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Louth Area group of the Lincolnshire wildlife Trust will be held at Nichol Hill Church on Friday 26 April 2019 at 7.30 pm
In accordance with the Constitution, all Committee members and Officers stand down at each AGM. Chairman Ray Woodcock and Secretary Biff Vernon and Treasurer Rod Baddon are willing to be re-elected, as are current committee members: Colin Byatt, Louise Scott, Judith John, and Chris Henderson. New committee members will be welcome; nomination forms are available from the Chairman.

NEW MEMBERS PLEASE READ
It is 2019. Fresh ideas and new faces are needed. The group can benefit from more committee members. The committee meets three or four times a year. Why not give it a whirl for a year? Speak to me or ask any of the other committee members for more details.

MY SIGHTINGS
Our hedgehogs are still feeding and snuffling. The trail camera that records their activities picked up a bat at 0536hrs on 3 March. I sent a copy of the photograph to the Lincolnshire County Bat recorder who managed to identify it as a Brown long-eared bat. I also learnt from her that, ‘This bizarre weather is bringing bats out of hibernation early, with a number of other records already. It’s also beginning to bring casualties in: we’ve had yet another today, a severely underweight pipistrelle found in Bourne this morning. There are insects flying, but if there are not enough to replenish the energy bats are needing to fly then they lose weight and finish on the ground, too weak to fly, frequently to be caught by cats or other predators.’

Best wishes
Ray Woodcock Chairman Louth Area Group