In Praise Of Dawn: On Badgers, Night Owls And Not Being One

The tawny owls in the trees around my house have been in fine voice recently. Usually, there’s a fairly even split between the sexes - the high-pitched female tawnies with their “to-wits” (which is actually more like “to-WEEEEEET” in reality) and the more bassy and insouciant male tawnies with their answering “to-woos” - but one night last week I got the strong sense that the field to one