Hi and welcome to my Blog, my name is Paul Riddle and I live in south Leicestershire, UK. Back in August 2007 my quest began to locate as many local Little Owl territories as possible. The driving force was a reported decline in the uk numbers so I thought I would do my bit and conduct a study in my area. After 7 years and countless hours out in the field I have detected over 200 different sites. With a thirst for a greater understanding of the owls a more comprehensive monitoring and nest box programme then commenced. This also now includes monitoring the local and very sparse population of Barn Owls, please pop back occasionally and catch up with the life and times of my owls and any other wildlife that I come across. I hope you enjoy your visit!!!

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Barn Owl Ringing......part 2.

Any regulars readers of this blog will know that we have been closely monitoring a pair of local Barn Owls via a nest box camera that Glyn, Daz and I fitted last year.  Because we can sit at home and remotely view all the activities it makes the decision of when to ring the juvenile birds very easy. The three remaining chicks are growing rapidly and it was decided that this evening was the perfect time to get the task done.
 
Chris and Andy from the Charnwood Ringers were good enough to come over and do their thing. Andy was voted as being the most agile and experienced with handling young birds, so up the ladder to the nest box he went. He can be seen here carefully collecting each chick one by one and placing them into a purpose made cloth bag.


The chicks were taken out of the bags one at a time and all the relevant data was captured before they were rung.


 Chris gave us an expert class in ringing.


The first one completed, good job Chris!

 
Then not to be out done, Andy too showed us how it was done.


We were all in close attendance watching the show. From L to R: Daz, Joe (my son) Glyn, Amelia (Glyn's daughter) Chris and Andy.


Once all the ringing was complete, Andy gathered all three chicks between his legs for a family shot.

 
So that is the last of the ringing for this year, I reckon these chicks will continue to rapidly grow and they should be on the wing in a few weeks time. Considering how wet it has been this year the parent owls have done a fabulous job at this site raising two broods and seven youngsters in total.

7 comments:

  1. Great stuff as ever! Fingers crossed for them - hope they make it.

    Cheers,
    Rob M

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  2. Great job done by all involved. Like the puffin jumper lol. Hopefully we will see some Barn Owl images in the near future.

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  3. Three's pretty good for a second brood, Paul. Unfortunately my pal Titus's second brood of five looks as if it's dwindled to one now. "Well done" to all of you.

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  4. Nice one Paul - I never realised Barn Owl's had a second brood so late in the Year.

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  5. They all look in good nick mate,the parents have done really well to raise this brood

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  6. Geweldig de familie foto !

    Gr Michel

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  7. Thanks all for your comments guys.

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