Having seen how early Barn Owls have nested on Salisbury Plain and in the Lower Wylye Valley, I thought I should have a look at our local boxes. We are usually a few weeks behind them so I was expecting to find a few on eggs and perhaps a few newly hatched chicks. I was joined for the morning by Laura and Daniel. Daniel was a star, he did all of the ladder carrying, which meant this geriatric didn’t have to. My back thanks him!
We met at 9:00 and first stop was Lower Pavenhill Farm, just a mile down the road from my place. During the summer the fields around the box are full of horses. They have a tendency to nibble the car, and I would prefer them not to, so we had to carry the kit down the field, with our entourage in tow. Last year we found adults roosting, but no sign of breeding. This year we opened the box to find seven chicks! Six were large enough to be ringed, the other we will, hopefully, be able to ring that one in a couple of weeks. It was well fed. A great start to the session!
Our next stop was a new box that the farmer had erected overwinter in the field behind Purley Farm off the B4696. This did not have any chicks, but there were plenty of pellets, including some that looked fresh, so it is looking hopeful for the future.
We then moved north to Plain Farm. Last year we found two small chicks there at the start of the year and, when we went to ring them there was only one. This year we caught mum on the box. She was ringed as an adult in the next box on our visit list, Drill farm, in June 2023.
On looking in the box we found another seven chicks, all with their primary and secondary wing feathers emerging out of pin, the longest with a P4 of 100m, the shortest with just 10mm. Not only were they all growing nicely, they were well fed, with all but the smallest one weighing in at over 400g, little’un weighed 360g. It is no surprise really, they had an excellent larder to see them okay for a while:
Following on from there we headed over to Drill Farm, just west of Plain Farm. Last year this box produced three young, which we first saw very young in mid-June, and which we ringed in late July. This year, two adults left the box as we approached and on checking there were four very young chicks in the box and a couple of eggs. I will visit again in a month to see how they are progressing.
From there it was a somewhat longer drive to Somerford Farm barn. This box had not produced anything until 2024 when we ringed a brood of three Barn Owls, last year it was just a single Jackdaw chick, so I was hoping for somewhat better this year. It was very pleasing to find an adult flying around the barn as we drew up. It was even better to find six chicks in the nest: three were large enough to be ringed, the other three will be large enough in a couple of weeks.
Finally, we went to the other Somerford Farm box on the bridle way through to the barn. This box was a disaster last year: we found a dead female in the box when checking in July. It really was a hard year for Barn Owls last year. This year we were very pleased to find six very early chicks in the box:
They were tucked up in two groups of three. We had been told that Jackdaws had been seen in and out of the box and you can tell, from the sticks, that they had started nesting there, but it rather looks as if they were evicted by the Barn Owls!
So, with Laura having to be away by noon, we packed up after this. This has to have been our best session so far since I started doing this. We checked six boxes, all showed signs of Barn Owl occupancy. In all we ringed 16 chicks, found 14 chicks to be ringed in the near future, caught one adult on the nest and saw another six adults on or near their nests, plus plenty of food availability. Looking forward to the next checking session next Thursday.
Our previous best in one session was 8! That was on three separate occasions 27th June 2025, 27th June 2024 and 29th June 2023. The first two did it from three boxes and the last from four. This was 17 from four boxes, with four more to go in those boxes plus two more broods of at at least 10 young in two other boxes.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 