Barn owls
Posted: 18 Oct 2019, 22:20
About 5 years ago i put up a box in the roof of one of our barns, spent a fair bit of time lining a tunnel through the boarding and studs into the box and have had no joy with any lodger's in all that time.
The wife was moaning about something stinking in there a few weeks ago so i wondered if the box was anything to do with it, got ladder and opened door to the sight of 5 barn owl chicks, one big chick all covered in fluffy down, one a bit smaller and covered in down, and 3 small bare and prob no more than a week old, hooray finally worth the effort!!
Anyway that was 4weeks ago, and yesterday we opened up the box to have them rung and there was only 3 left to be told the other 2 had probably been eaten by their siblings
No doubt all this rain we keep getting was the cause of their fate, as barn owls struggle to hunt in the rain, but it was the second lot to hatch on the farm this year so not a disaster!!
Maybe now my box has been used it will be a regular thing each year
And now Geoff I agree, poxy weather
The wife was moaning about something stinking in there a few weeks ago so i wondered if the box was anything to do with it, got ladder and opened door to the sight of 5 barn owl chicks, one big chick all covered in fluffy down, one a bit smaller and covered in down, and 3 small bare and prob no more than a week old, hooray finally worth the effort!!
Anyway that was 4weeks ago, and yesterday we opened up the box to have them rung and there was only 3 left to be told the other 2 had probably been eaten by their siblings
No doubt all this rain we keep getting was the cause of their fate, as barn owls struggle to hunt in the rain, but it was the second lot to hatch on the farm this year so not a disaster!!
Maybe now my box has been used it will be a regular thing each year
And now Geoff I agree, poxy weather
more to watch them being fed etc so would need to be a camera with ir.