Tawny owl catching bats

[PLUMPUDDING]

It was an exciting night for wildlife . Last night I watched a Tawny owl making numerous attacks on the Pipistrelle bats as they left their roost and headed for the woods opposite my house. I've never seen this before and it kept flying out of the trees and doing aerobatics trying to catch them. There must have been over a hundred bats so I suppose they would make quite easy pickings and a mouse like snack.

Then the cat came in rather excited so I went to look up the back garden and saw three large hedgehogs with their heads together making grunting noises and a smaller adult one nearby, and best of all a tiny baby one. They seem to have made a really good recovery in numbers this year and it's lovely to have them back in the garden.

[Monika]

Lucky you, PP! It really sounds idyllic (other than the bat slaughter by the tawny, of course!).

[PLUMPUDDING]

I didn't see any attacks last night. The bats seemed to have changed their flight path further away from the trees and there were a lot more flying through my garden. This could be a coincidence as there were lots of moths here and they might have been attracted by them.