Category: Hooty

… and it does feel a bit voyeuristic watching them spend time together, particularly when they get all frisky and start practising making hootlets.

We have sound (but no music!) as both the barn owls arrive, noisily at first, then romantic silence as they settle in together.

And we start with a new camera – not working properly yet (no sound, video not exporting properly), but once it is we should have day and night videos of the barn owl box.

We think this is the male. Paler markings and no black spots on front unlike the female, and the male tends to be the one seeking out and preparing nest sites.

Say hello to Mr Tawny!

Little doubt this time, different markings compared to a barny owl. Only one so far, hopefully the other is hiding in the nest box.

We heard a tawny hooting last night and these two photos are from the new owl box. Photos aren’t clear but we think a tawny is taking over this box while the barn owls are nesting in the old one. We hope they all get on.

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They’re spending more time around the nest box, though not staying in it during the day. A lot of winter to go yet before they nest properly, but it’s looking good so far.

It’s been a couple of weeks and the two barn owls are still hanging around. They’re sleeping somewhere else most days but at night are still taking a great interest in the nest box, so hopefully it fits their requirements for the spring.

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Hooty’s settling in and currently having a well-earned nap.

And not just one but two: after a year of empty nests we now have a pair of barn owls taking an interest in the old nest box. We’re going to give them plenty of peace and quiet while they settle in. There’s a lot of winter ahead for them but the field is ready, with plenty of scrubland for hunting.

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A word of caution though: these two do look like barn owls, but over the past few days we’ve seen distant brief glimpses a pair of what we think were tawny owls (appearing darker than barn owls and more typical behaviour) so we may or may not have those too. Not sure the field is bigger enough for both.

Thanks to John from the Shropshire Barn Owl Group for his visit and advice about how to attract barn owls back to the croft. We’ve cleaned out the nest boxes, laid fresh bedding, cleared overhanging branches, installed some random fence posts nearby (as perches for the owls) and also installed ‘pencil’ cameras in each box so we can easily monitor them. Now we just wait…

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First sighting of one, two, three new Barn Owl hatchlings.

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The first sighting of this most beautiful of creatures, and a good incentive for the work ahead of us.