Little Owls.

The Little owls behind the house have gone quiet and I don't know if they're breeding or not. There's been a lot of farm disturbance recently but they can be quite tolerant so hopefully they'll do okay. One pair, that are using a box I put up in 2014, have used it again this year and we recently ringed three healthy young.

Again, the birds hadn't been seen for awhile but Barry saw one bird near the box in early may so went to check it before I went to Australia. I was surprised to find the female sitting on four eggs!

Checking them again on the 28th may after we returned there were three young but they were to small to ring.

The signs were hopeful they'd all survive as there were plenty of festering rodent prey items littering the box. What was really interesting though was that the adult female was ringed.  We ringed an adult female here three years ago but on checking the ring number I found it was actually one of a brood of five I'd ringed in the same box in 2015! What happened to the original female? The box wasn't used last year and we assumed that the 'beast from the east' meant the birds weren't able to attain breeding condition and just didn't bother. A grey squirrel also took over the box last winter until it was evicted and that may have deterred them but it seems that the more likely answer is that the older female died - either predated or of starvation during last years cold weather. The adult female of our garden pair was predated by a Sparrowhawk last year.

Going back a few weeks later we ringed the youngsters who sat among a heap of prey remains including a Blackbird - identifiable by a leg and some feathers.

 Above: note the Blackbirds leg in left foreground and feather by chicks leg

Below: Adult female looking worse for wear after brooding her young surrounded by rotting corpses!

Whilst on the farm we took the opportunity to ring a brood of 5 Jackdaw chicks using a Barn Owl box installed in a large open fronted barn. I love the eye colour of these chicks! Interestingly Barry reported one of the adult birds had a metal ring on the left leg so is probably one of the birds I ringed in the same box last year.