Today Miranda and I joined Dick and Jon at Westdown Camp before heading off to check a number of boxes on Salisbury Plain between there and Warminster. It was another fascinating session and it gave Miranda, like Ellie two weeks ago, a chance to get involved with the young of some species that we don’t (yet) cover in our Braydon Forest and beyond area.
We were out and about between 8:30 and 16:00 and checked on 25 boxes. These were as follows: 10 Barn Owl boxes, 3 Little Owl boxes and 12 Kestrel boxes. Of the Barn Owl boxes four were occupied by Barn Owls, one with a sole roosting adult, three with pairs occupying boxes but, as yet, no eggs or chicks.
Four of their boxes were full of Jackdaw nesting material but no sign of young. The Jackdaw breeding season is just about over now so the nesting material was cleaned out ready for occupancy by the late running Barn Owls. The other box was full of squirrel drey rubbish, which was also removed. Fortunately, Jon did all of the dirty work: I had my fill with my own boxes on Friday.
The three Little Owl boxes were all doing their job. One had an Owl on eggs, the other two held Little Owl chicks. The first was nice and easy to find, as it was in the box. As we approached the third box we saw the adult fly off. This was an interesting setup, to say the least. A couple of photos to explain the situation:
This wall was about 30′ long and 6′ tall. It then had a 90o turn, leading to the pillar at the far right of the photograph. The entire wall was topped with large flat coping stones. So, we checked the box for chicks, eggs having been found previously. Nothing to be found. Now Jon, knowing the place well, lifted a couple of the coping stones, which revealed a gap between each of the outer wall stones. We checked the stones, those that would open, and we found them: three stones away from the pillar pictured:
They had clearly left the box and climbed along the top of the wall, found a gap and climbed down into it. This was Miranda’s opportunity to ring her first ever Little Owl:
I love that “You wait until I get hold of you!” look.
The twelve Kestrel boxes were busier in the main, although only five of them were actually occupied by the target species, only one other had been occupied at all: with another squirrel drey to clear out.
In total, we ringed 14 Kestrels from those 5 boxes:
Most of them were showing signs of more development than the chicks ringed on both the Plain two weeks ago and in the Lower Wylye Valley on Tuesday. The primary and tail feathers are growing very nicely:
All in all, a long day, but very satisfactory, and Miranda can add two new species to her experience. I am looking forward to the next one. Mind, I will need to ring the odd Kestrel chick otherwise they might end up with more records for Kestrel chicks than me!
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 