3 more!

Following the title of my last post "2 More" which was about another two new Little Owl sites that I'd recently located one would think that this posts would suggest I'd found some more sites, but that is not the case.

 

The "3 more" I refer to in this title refers to another 3 more owl boxes that were erected this morning. My initial plan was to follow up two recent leads of Barn Owl sightings but when I saw how bad the weather was those plans were ditched. Instead I loaded up the Landrover with the boxes that Col and I had made/repaired recently and off I went.

 

At the first location a Little Owl box was erected at the edge of an orchard. There are already owls in residence here but the natural cavity they use makes it almost impossible to ring the juveniles. So I am hoping they find the box a more attractive proposition and relocate to it. This is the first Little Owl box that has a felt roof, the reason being that any box made of plywood has a weakness in the roof and after a couple of years they start to peel back and rot. We'll see in time if this amendment makes any difference.

 

 

At the second location I erected a Barn Owl box, this too has had a felt roof. I have recently discovered that this old Pollard Willow Tree has been used by a Barn Owl for roosting purposes. On two occasions I have found it fast asleep deep down inside the main trunk, so deep in fact it was almost on the floor! That obviously wasn't the ideal situation for the owl so a bespoke box was made. I have strategically positioned the box into the cavity where it will be well protected by the elements but the owl can still gain entry into the main trunk of the tree if it so wishes.

 

 

The final box of the day was another Barn Owl box. This is not far from the Barn Owl location that I mentioned in a post a couple of week ago. You may well recall me explaining that I'd located the owl roosting in an old derelict building that was due to be renovated. Well after a bit of networking I discovered another nearby building that looked just right for a box and the landowner was only too pleased to let me put one up.  

 

 

I obviously need to keep the location of this Barn under wraps to protect the privacy of the landowner and especially as it now has a box in it, and soon a Barn Owl! But this is the view from the outside.

 

 

After today's work my box tally has now moved on to 106 in total, 51 Little Owl & 55 Barn Owl. I still have a couple more made that have yet to be erected, once they are all up the timing will be just about right to start the marathon job of checking all 106 of them to see if any are being used as breeding sites., surely there will be a few?