... NATURE NOTE Why does an owl hoot? No, that isn’t a conundrum, but it is a puzzle. Birds sing to their mates, and to warn other birds off their territories. They also have alarm calls. Is the owl’s hoot a hunting device of some kind? The question was prompted ...

... Nature note . . Naturalist and TV travel personality Johnny Morris will officially open Birmingham'’s Cannon Hill nature centre on April 19, ...

... NATURE NOTE IT is a few weeks ago that our last Natural History Society notes appeared, but a correspondent has followed up with a few more observations. He _states that he saw a clouded yellow butterfly only ‘once dur.ng the summer (flying over Bilton ...

... Nature note s walking through nd heather near Chy with my uncle, when a grasshopper warbler ther and nearby a rc - We made our way o\ the resting warbler 0 look into the heath. 1g a high-pitched che: first thought was of th young. We search minutes or ...

... Nature note I was walking through ¢ gorse and heather near Ch: water, with my uncle, when spotted a grasshopper warbler the heather and nearby a ro bunting. We made our way o towards the resting warbler began to look into the heath Hearing a high-pitched ...

... NATURE NOTE A frlend on a trout-fishing holiday in Devon sends me a delightful nature note. ~ The {rout were not feeding, so the angler was sitting on a rock contemplating the river with his rod piopped against a high bank with its tlp projecting over ...

... NATURE NOTE A correspondent reports that waxwings have arrived in the Forfar area recently. A flock of eight or nine birds was seen feeding on rose-hips. The waxwing, the size of a large thrush, is a fairly rare visitor to Britain, usually from the forests ...

... NATURE NOTE The Torrey Canyon disaster is now little more than a bad memory, even to the people involved in the cleaning up of the thousands of tons of crude oil which smothered so much of the beaches of Devon and Cornwall. In Shetland we are fortunately ...

... NATURE NOTE In case anyone has any doubts about Spring being here, they might be interested to learn that not one, but two, larks were seen and heard singing around the Forfar Loch on Sunday forenoon. P.S.—And it's not the first time we have heard of ...

... NATURE NOTE The Pike Of the dozen or so coarse fish to be found in other parts of the British Isles only the Pike and the Perch commonly occur throughout Scotland. Like the Perch, the Pike (Esox Lucius) is a predatory fish, which makes it a very unwelcome ...

... NATURE NOTE By the Kettlie The grisly corpses of hedgehogs on our highways remind one of how an instinct, in this case a protective one, can misfire. On the approach of danger the hedgehog curls up so as to meet his enemy with an array of business-like ...

... NATURE NOTE Rousing Rossini ST NINIAN’'S Church hosted the Glenrothes Choral Spring Concert last Saturday evening. This year's presenta- Messe Solennelle by Rossini, a large and tuneful piece requiring rhythmic and harmothe choir, pilus a quartet of soioists ...