Day 59. Just a few hours later and the owlet takes its first tentative step out on the ledge. She doesn’t go any further though: not surprising as she’s come out of the safety of the small world inside the nest box to find herself twelve feet up a tree and no parent to guide her.

Day 58. One of the owlets takes its first look at the outside world. Not quite brave enough to come out any further, it has a good wobble-headed look from the safety of the nest box.

Day 56. John and Wendy from the Shropshire Barn Owl Group kindly came and checked over the two owlets: weighing, measuring and ringing each of them in turn. We are very relieved to find out they are both very good weights despite the difficulties they’ve had. The oldest is a female and the youngest a male. Great advice too from two very knowledgeable owl experts, thank you so much!

The two hootlets are safely back in their nest box having passed their medical and endured a brief photo opportunity.

Day 54. The pair of owlets are looking much more like adults now with their new feathers and hardly any fluff left, just a thin ring around their waists. Not long before they’ll be flying.

The remaining fluff makes them look like ballet dancers

Day 50. The adult female came twice last night to bring food, not enough to sustain them but at least she hasn’t completely abandoned them. Today they have been busy shedding their fluff to reveal their new feathers, though the mixture of both does make them look a little odd.

Bad hair day?

Day 49. No sight of the adults for a few nights so the owlets are on their own, with only us to feed them (fortunately they’re happy to devour what we give them). The good news is they’re exhibiting typical behaviour for their age with lots of wing flapping and fluff going everywhere, revealing their new feathers. They’re preening each other too and for the first time taking an interest in the outside: the bigger one in particular looks almost ready to leap up onto the ledge.

There’s not a lot of room when they start wing-flapping!

Day 45. The pair are slowly getting bigger, and are now beginning to replace their fluff with feathers and also showing how flexible their necks are as you can see here! We’re still feeding them as the adults are rarely coming back to the nest box (partly due to the recent bad weather). Defrosted day-old chick anyone?!

Day 41. We had to do some essential repairs to the nest box, involving briefly removing the side hatch of the nest box, so took advantage of the situation to take this photo (having distracted them with a field mouse which you can see at the feet of the owlet on the left). Box repaired and really helpful to see the owlets close up: they look healthy, though likely small (it’s hard to tell).

Now more defrosting of baby chicks, groan.

Day 41. Almost six weeks old and feeding better with our careful supplementation of their diet with a mixture of fresh field mice from the field and defrosted day-old chicks (this is recommended!): I had to go out at 2am once because I’d forgotten to defrost the horrible things. Not my favourite of jobs but the owlets are responding and getting more active and more feathers too.

Day 40. The owlets are starting to get more curious and agile. One of them finds a fly on the wall fascinating. Well, you would if you’ve never seen one before!