Category: Animals

It’s the first time one of the owls has stayed the day. It’s a bit early to be too optimistic but a good sign that they might be getting ready to nest. We hope!

A brief visit to the owl box last night by a new pair of love-struck barn owls. We’re not sure where they are from but they both have identification rings on their legs so they’re definitely not the adults from last year. One of them could be one of the youngsters from last year’s clutch, but owls don’t normally stay where they were raised. Wherever they’re from, it’s good to see that the owl box has potential tenants.

We may have a new tenant in one of the nest boxes! This female (we think) arrived two days ago and is still there. We’re not sure if she is one of the adults from this year who has come back now the youngsters have dispersed. She might be completely new, possibly a dispersed youngster from elsewhere: we’ll keep an eye on her to see if she is ringed.

The nest box was empty six months ago! This thick layer of pellets, fluff and feathers needs to be cleared out each year otherwise it wouldn’t take long for there to be no room for the owls.

Now the barn owl boxes are temporarily empty it’s time to check them over and do any repairs needed. It might be time to replace the oldest box so we’re going to have a good look at John Lightfoot’s (from the Shropshire Barn Owl Group) range of new homes at Talon Nest Boxes. We have also identified a good site for one of his kestrel boxes: very tempting and it would be wonderful to have a different bird of of prey nesting in the field.