I LIKE the darker evenings that October brings. The evenings are not too chilly and it gets dark early enough to go out and about trying to meet some of our nocturnal wildlife.

Nights such as we have had recently, with spectacular full moons which rose early, are perfect for this.

It was on just such a night that I visited Habberley Valley. Walking through the open, grassy areas near Ridgestone Rock at the northerly most end of the valley, I sat down on the trunk of an old birch tree and waited.

The time was 6.45pm and the sun had slipped below the horizon about 15 minutes earlier. However, the sun's glow could still be seen lighting up a few, thin clouds.

It always amazes me how the colour just seems to drain out of the landscape at this time of day.

The green and yellows of autumn leaves are slowly replaced by a variety of shades of grey until, after no longer than 15 minutes, you find yourself in a world of black and white.

Without the sun's warming presence, the temperature falls away rapidly. The noises also start to change. As the last few bars of birdsong fade away, you become much more aware of smaller, closer noises like the rustle of tree leaves.

On this occasion, a faint snap of a twig gave away the location of the first nocturnal creature. The moon, which had started to rise almost as soon as the sun had set, cast a silver light across the valley's grass.

In among the shadowy patches cast by the trees, the hunched shapes of young rabbits could be seen lolloping around and they were grazing, completely unaware of my presence.

Then the stillness and tranquillity of the scene was shattered by a loud screech, which seemed to come from just above my left shoulder.

It wasn't just me that had a shock as the rabbits immediately froze, put their ears down and flattened their bodies to the floor. As the stillness of the night returned, the rabbits started to relax with their ears slowly coming up.

I cast my gaze through the gloom to see if I could spot the source of the noise.

The call came again and this really helped me to focus my vision. I then realised that I wasn't the only one out watching rabbits tonight.

Perched on a tree no more than 10m away, I could see a small squat bird shape. It was one of Habberley's owls, the aptly named Little Owl.

Its normal diet consists of mice, voles, beetles and crickets but the young rabbits were certainly holding its attention. The rabbits were not as relaxed as when I first saw them, but they were still out in the open.

I thought I was going to see the owl swoop down and take a rabbit but it was not to be. The owl must have thought better of tackling such a big animal and disappeared off its branch in the blink of an eye.

I stood up, disappointed, but my movement proved far too much for the rabbits who shot noisily back into the undergrowth.