Wild JULY 7 nature encounters for the month ahead

AT THE HEIGHT OF SUMMER, little owls are often active during daylight in the morning and evening.

-  BEN HOARE

Small beginnings

In July the recently fledged young start to explore the area around the nest. The owlets are adorable, with outsize eyes and fluffy feathers. Still dependent on their parents, they beg for beetles, worms and other tasty titbits with a 'seep seep' call whose piercing persistence anyone caring for little humans will surely recognise.

Taking the plunge

NORTHERN GANNETS DIVING INTO THE sea at speeds of up to 100kph to catch fish are a summer spectacle like no other. In his beautifully written book The Lost Spells, Robert Macfarlane captures the transformation that occurs as these amazing birds fold their wings and tuck their feet away moments before impact: they become “a perfect paper aeroplane; all angles, creases, points”. During their dives, the gannets experience greater G-forces than astronauts, protected by a suite of adaptations including airbag-like sacs in the head and chest. When a flock attacks a shoal of herring or sardines en masse, the simultaneous splashes make it look as if the sea is being strafed by machine-gun fire.