Col and I made the most of our spare time during the last two weekends, our mission was to get around as many of our Barn Owl boxes as possible to check for any signs of activity or occupancy. We weren't that confident of discovering much as the Barn Owl has taken a massive hit during the last 12 months with the UK population being decimated. It has been recently published in a paper that the UK population has been reduced from an estimated 7,000 pairs to a miserly 1,000 pairs, the atrocious weather conditions being the main culprit.
We kicked off our marathon task by incorporated into our monitoring scheme two more Barn Owl boxes that have been made and erected by a local landowner (Raymond). No activity was discovered in the two boxes whilst there but Raymond has phoned me since to say we he has seen a Barn Owl flying too and from a haystack, so that might be promising? Whilst at this location we drove through one of the big open barns, it was then I noticed that we were being watched? Hiding on one of the steel girders up in the roof was a partially hidden Little Owl, Raymond said he had them there but I only count them as one of my new sites if I see the bird for myself, and I did!
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| Little Owl - site No 245 |
So this is now my new Little Owl site No 245, I do hope that there is a pair there and breeding takes place. I am also hoping to hear from Raymond again in the near future with some good news regarding the Barn Owls and the haystack.
During our two trips out Col and I managed to get around and check some twenty boxes, we had the usual Jackdaws, Stock Doves and Squirrels in residence in a few but the big surprise was we had pairs of Barn Owls in five separate boxes, and all on eggs!!! And then an even bigger surprise we also had Tawny Owls in four different boxes and all with chicks!!! Goodness knows where all these birds have come from but our boxes are very much to their liking so I'm not complaining.
At one particular Barn Owl site Col was prepared with his camera and managed to capture images of both the male & female owl as they left the box, below.
During our two trips out Col and I managed to get around and check some twenty boxes, we had the usual Jackdaws, Stock Doves and Squirrels in residence in a few but the big surprise was we had pairs of Barn Owls in five separate boxes, and all on eggs!!! And then an even bigger surprise we also had Tawny Owls in four different boxes and all with chicks!!! Goodness knows where all these birds have come from but our boxes are very much to their liking so I'm not complaining.
At one particular Barn Owl site Col was prepared with his camera and managed to capture images of both the male & female owl as they left the box, below.
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| Female at Box site No 83. |
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| Male at box site No 83. |
So after what was a disastrous breeding year in 2013 it looks as though 2014 is going to be a bumper one and our best year yet, and we still have loads more boxes to check.
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ReplyDeleteThat second bird is remarkably heavily spotted for a male! Hope I've been sexing some of my intermediate birds correctly...
ReplyDeleteHi mark, you were quite right to question the sex of the 2nd owl in this sequence, you may well be right? I obviously assumed they were a pair (male & female) and from the two images that Col attained the first bird seemed to be heavier spotted, hence the female. Confirmation of them being a pair would obviously be the raising of a brood, however I made my third visit to this particular site last night and still no eggs! Because the other sites I am monitoring are all well on their way with incubation I am now suspecting that they are in fact a pair of females???
DeleteSo happy about this report. Barn Owls are having a tough time everywhere around their territories. They fly low and often get hit by vehicles. In our desert, they are tricky to find. We went owling the other night and I thought of you. I know you would have loved the whole night birding experience. Owls are amazing.
ReplyDeleteYes owls are amazing Chris, and you are quite right in saying the Barn Owl has had a rough time of late, however nature finds a way of getting through it, with a little help from our nest boxes!! Oh and yes I would have loved to join you in your owling quest, when does the invite arrive? And make sure it comes with the flight tickets!!!
DeleteIt'seems great to see some of the boxes are occupied just a shame UK numbers have taken such a hit. I did hear of one area has bucked the downward spiral by supplement if their feeding during the winter with dead baby chicken's from local suppliers!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds a good idea Doug but a very time consuming task if there are a few sites, however the boxes I have visited so far this year have all had a good number of dead mice/voles in them so it looks as though it is going to be a good year.
DeleteSo pleased to see that your Barny boxes are doing the trick. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteFurther to Doug's comment, as you know, I have a pal who's got breeding Barnies in his garden. He realised that he was extremely lucky to keep them both through the winter of 2012/13, although they didn't breed for the first time in many years in 2013. To guard against this he set up a platform near the nest boxes (he has two in his garden, and every year both are used) from which to feed 'day old chicks'. So that the birds got to know that food would be available 'in emergency' he adopted a policy of offering 2 chicks every 2 days no matter what the weather. NOW THIS IS THE IMPORTANT BIT. He was advised by the Barn Owl Trust that it could be extremely dangerous to over-do the supplemental feeding as it could bring them into breeding too early, with disasterous results! As it happens, the winter was mild and he never had to increase the feeding regime.
Incidentally, his two-box setup works really well. Whilst the female is brooding eggs in the one box, the male roosts in the other box which is only about 6 metres away. He pops in to check on the female and the food supply from time to time, and tops up as necessary. Sometimes, after the brood has fledged, the female moves over to the other box for a second brood and the male transfers to the first box.
Some very interesting facts, figures and advise there mate, although a good idea having two boxes close together I can't do that as I'd have to make another 60 boxes!!!
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