The Importance of Voles

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-17060399

A long way up!

We replaced another old box this morning. The problem was that the old one was on the top of our tallest pole; it may not look it, but this was a long way up and work proved very difficult.
The box itself sits in the middle of a busy stableyard and despite the continual activity, it remains a regular breeding site. Although no owls were present this morning, there were plenty of fresh pellets around and I am confident that the new box will be used very soon.

National Nest Box Week

Next week is National Nest Box Week. Details are on

www.bto.org/nnbw/index.htm

It's been a long time...

A busy day today started with us erecting four new nestboxes at Wimboldsley and then a bit of routine maintanance this afternoon resulted in me finding this roosting couple nearer to home in Whatcroft.

Despite the box having been filled with leaves by Grey Squirrels these two birds had squashed themselves inside with hardly any room in which to move. Both birds are in their fifth year; the female was caught by me last January about half a mile away when she was roosting with a different male. This year's male was last seen by me in 2008 in a different nestbox, about a quarter of a mile away. The nestbox was quickly cleaned out and the owls can now enjoy the freedom of the whole space in which to roost and hopefully they will settle to breed later in the season.

The sedentary nature of Barn Owls is perfectly demonstrated by this couple who have stayed faithful to their local area where food is plentiful and roosting sites are provided.

Habitat Improvement

Last Friday the BBC featured a short video on habitat improvement that can benefit Barn Owls:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16541208

Sturdy Box

I received a call yesterday to say that the tree in which one of our boxes had been erected had fallen down in the recent strong winds and, amazingly, that a pair of owls had been seen flying out from it. Arriving this morning, I found that although the tree had smashed to the ground, the box itself was still in one piece and that there were many fresh Barn Owl pellets inside.

The box was put up in an adjacent tree in this old orchard and hopefully the owls will soon return and take up residence.

I saw my first Barn Owl of the year on Monday. It was sat proudly in one of our boxes looking out and surveying the world.