Breeding Birds at last….

I met with my star helper Dominic today and he bought luck in bucket loads.

We started out at a site near Pagham (Barfoots) a beautiful location looking out over a wild meadow. Health and Safety rules meant we had to don Hi Vis jackets and after signing in at reception we headed out to a box last checked in 2018.

That autumn I fell down the stairs at home and broke my ankle in 4 places- this put me out of action for some time. It has taken a while to be confident on ladders and I still have no head for heights!

Dominic clearly brought the luck with him today and we found a female barn owl brooding 2 very small owlets and one egg.

I ringed her (GE07482) and quickly replaced her back in the nest box. We left her for 10 minutes with the “stopper” int o allow her time to re-settle on her babies. We plan to return to ring the owlets in a few weeks.

Barn Owl box on Oak tree with stopper in place to allow the female owl to settle back on her owlets.

Adult female Barn Owl GE07482

2 very small Barn Owlets and one unhatched egg.

Later in the day we were lucky to find 2 different Barn Owl nest boxes containing evidence of Kestrels having bred. One much more advanced than the other as the following photos show.

4 Kestrel eggs in an owl box in Sidlesham- this box had young barn owls last year when I checked it.

One of 3 young kestrels in South Mundham ready to fledge in the next few days.

More boxes to check this week including another box not checked for 7 years………….