Exeter nature watcher Andrew Gibbs listens out to some territorial blackbirds and frisky owls
Up on the hillside near Whitycombe, dusk was fast approaching. It was that time of the day when the noisy, repetitive 'tink tink tink tink' calling of fractious blackbirds began to ring out loudly, stabbing into the early evening sky.
These irritable utterances sound very much like alarm calls and one might imagine that the neighbourhood cat had just been spotted on the prowl. In fact, these particular calls, rather than being directed towards the local tabby, are intended for other blackbirds. Made by individuals claiming ownership of night time roosting sites, each bird is declaring 'This is my space, keep out!'
From late autumn onwards, this twilight chorus can be heard all around the city arising from the trees and hedgerows of gardens, parks and cemeteries. Now is the time for resident blackbirds to re-establish their territories and staking a claim to a suitable night time roost location becomes a fundamental part of this process.
As the light faded, colours drained from the surrounding trees, twig and branch forms becoming sharply silhouetted against a silvery sky. Gradually, the backdrop darkened, silhouettes were lost into the night and the incessant, bad tempered calling of the blackbirds ceased. A calm settled over the hill.
All was quiet . Silent . Still.
And then 'hu…………hu-hooooo.' The most evocative of night time sounds. A male tawny owl, some distance away, had announced its presence.
Two minutes later and another 'hu………….hu-hooooo.' There is something extraordinary about the nature of this call. It possesses a quality which makes the dark surrounding space of an autumn night feel very large and very empty.
The solo performance continued for several minutes until the first male was joined by a second which started to call, invisible, from a position somewhere over to my right. And so the 'conversation' began. Two males weighing each other up creating a stereo sound experience which continued until a sharp 'u-weee' penetrated the air. A female had arrived centre stage. There followed much calling and responding with all three birds involved.
Tawny owls are monogamous, mating for life, the pair maintaining the same territory from year to year. In all probability a younger male, seeking to establish its own territory, had encroached on that of the resident Whitycombe pair.
Sometimes when three birds are interacting in this way, it can be due to two young males competing for the attention of an unpaired female. She will assess their relative fitness by analysing the quality of their calls.
To my untrained human ear, both males sounded pretty amazing. I stood and listened, straining my eyes in the hope of catching an owl on the wing, until eventually the cold started to bite through my boots.
