Little Owl success

One of the Little Owl boxes I put up with Barry's help on a local farm was used again this year. Initially the female was sat on 5 eggs but when we came to ring them there were only three pullus in the box. Steve joined me with his kids as Thomas, his eldest is my ringing trainee and it was the first time he'd ringed Little Owl. A subsequent check of the box revealed all three have fledged successfully.

The box will need a good clean out later in the year as it really was that filthy and rancid on the inside.

I haven't don much ringing at home as I've either been to busy with renovations or the weathers been to windy or wet. Recently, however, we had a small fall of warblers in the garden following a rain shower so I put up an 18ft net. I wasn't the only one interested in the warblers as the first bird out of the net in broad daylight was this male Little Owl. The picture in the hand illustrates how small these little predators are.

 To be hunting so early I assumed he must have young in the nest we can see from the house so I decided to abandon the ringing session. Last weekend I finally saw one of the fledgling Little Owls sat outside the nest hole with one of the parent birds nearby. Another breeding success!