IF we listen when walking in Richmond Park we may be rewarded by hearing little owls uttering their plaintive yelping, mewing calls from ancient oaks.

The areas around Holly Lodge, Two Storm Wood and along Beverley Brook adjacent to the golf course are their favourite sites.

The smallest of our six species of owl, the bird is however not native to Britain, being introduced from continental Europe in the late 19th century and now firmly established throughout the country.

Little owls are active both day and night and with luck can be seen out in the open perching on fence posts or dead boughs, bobbing up and down if alarmed. Their huge, piercing yellow eyes, quaint frowning rather comical expressions and small dumpy silhouettes are salient recognition features.

Low -level woodpeckerlike undulating flight is characteristic of little owls. If one flies by with the sun blowing through its plumage, the colours seem to echo the delicate buff and grey-flecked hues of parasol mushrooms, abundant in the park in autumn. Occasional hovering above ground also occurs.

Richmond Park, having a notable selection of mature oaks, isolated stands of tall trees and roaming herds of fallow and red deer form an ideal habitat as the little owl’s diet consists largely of beetles. Other invertebrates, earthworms, small birds and mice are also eaten.

The park is now a prime location for another more recently arrived alien, the rose-ringed parakeet.

Some vocal interaction can sometimes be heard taking place between the two species occupying the same trees. In addition to their usual familiar, harsh squawking vocabulary, parakeets often issue single calls that sound not unlike those of little owls which may be confusing to the listener.

In the spring 2001 edition of the Richmond Park magazine, Josephine Pithon suggested that parakeets had at the time made only modest population increases. However, from more recent observations it does seem the bird is spreading its angular wings further afield with roosting in Brompton Cemetery and Wimbledon Common. Our lovely tawny owl, Merlin, was recently abducted from the stable yard on Wimbledon Common.