Boxes

This morning we put up a couple of internal boxes at a farm near to Jodrell Bank. The farmer has seen owls roosting in his barns during the Winter months.

A busy day with boxes.

A hectic day today clearing the backlog of box requests. First stop was Anderton where I quickly put up two Barn Owl boxes, then on to Chelford where another Barn Owl box (pictured) was put up along with a Tawny, a Little Owl and a Kestrel box. Finally back to Toft to put up another Kestrel box (pictured).

Another replacement box at Winsford

The replacement of some old boxes continued today at Winsford when we consigned one of the 2002 boxes to retirement!
The habitat here is perfect for owls and the evidence of droppings on the tree confirms that the owls are active in the area.

Replacement box.

Another replacement box put up today to take the place one of our earliest boxes from 2003. Plenty of evidence that owls are about, so fingers crossed for the breeding season. 

New Book

Today I received my copy of a new book: Barn Owl by David Chandler, one in the new series of easy to read monographs by New Holland publishers.
It contains lots of really good photos and is a pleasant read despite not really breaking any new ground. Certainly worth the modest price.

some more boxes

We managed to put four more boxes up this weekend despite the wet and windy weather.
Two were put up in barns near the Cheshire Show Ground where birds have been seen roosting recently and the others were put up at Plumley where the farmer has heard both Barn Owls and Tawnies calling.

BTO Update

My copy of BTO News arrived in the post today and it contained sobering results from the 2010 Nest Record Scheme analysis.

Nationally Barn Owls suffered a -10.8% decline in brood size with the mean falling to the lowest levels for a decade. This picture was reflected in our own local experience.

The owls have also been hit hard by the extreme 2010/2011 winter and nationally there have been numerous reports of dead birds being found.

Let's hope for better news once the 2011 breeding season gets underway.