This year is turning into something quite astonishing. I have summarised the year to date at the end of this piece. It is not something that I would ever have predicted.
We went out to check on four more boxes this morning. These were two boxes we had checked back on the 5th May where the young were too small to ring them and another checked on the 5th, when we ringed three chicks, but there were three more that were too small to ring. We also checked a fourth box which we hadn’t checked before.
It was much cooler today thankfully! I was joined by Laura, Adam and Daniel with a nice leisurely start. The first box, at Drill Farm, had two small chicks and four unhatched eggs back on the 5th, today they had four chicks ready to ring.
We then went to Somerford Farm, met up with David, the owner, and checked the box on his property that we didn’t get too last time. This box is our longest trek so we take all of the kit with us. Upon opening it, we found a Jackdaw nest with five young in it. Then I realised I had only brought Barn Owl rings, so Adam did a run back to the car to get sine E-rings. Unfortunately, I hadn’t told him to bring the right sized pliers!! So Laura did the next trip to get the correct pliers. Eventually we got on with processing! We could only do four of the five: the fifth managed to work its way around a couple of corners to the mouth of the box, which is opposite to where the box hatch is.
From there we went to the box that had 6 small young in last time: this time it had seven healthy looking youngsters! We ringed all of them, and then spent a fruitless half-an-hour looking for a Tawny Owl box along the bridle path. We did find pellets and matted dark feathers, we found white guano splash: lots of signs of activity but no signs of a box.
Next port of call was the box in which we ringed three chicks on the 5th May. The already ringed chicks were beautifully well developed, and their three nest mates were a fair way behind in plumage development, but looking healthy with full bellies.
Adjacent to the Barn Owl box was a Jackdaw nest. I didn’t have my long ladder so it wasn’t reachable. However, we could tell it was a Jackdaw nest as there was a dead chick underneath it.
We then went and checked on a rather dilapidated barn that doesn’t have a box but does have a record of Barn Owls roosting there. Sadly no sign today but a pair of Stock Dove, David is going to put up some more Owl and Kestrel boxes around his farm. He has three wildflower meadows – and they look fabulous. He is heavily involved in a number of local farming conservation groups. We are lucky in the Braydon Forest area: the hedgerows are beautifully maintained. There is very little intensive farming: mainly beef and sheep, with a little dairy and lots of varied wildlife.
This really is the most astonishing year for our team ringing Barn Owls. I am the Schedule 1 permit holder for the species in our group. Jonny Cooper is my agent on that licence. I cover the Braydon Forest and the Wiltshire side of the Cotswold Water Park, including Waterhay. Jonny covers the area around Chippenham expanding eastward to Melksham. Over the years our activity has built up, as can be seen from the following table:
As you can see, we have already ringed nearly twice as many pulli as in any previous year. Whilst that is remarkable in itself, given this is the beginning of the season, what is absolutely remarkable is that, apart from five ringed in May in 2024, we have never ringed Barn Owl pulli in any other year, and yet have ringed 62 in this month! 43 of those are in the Braydon Forest area, and 19 are in Jonny’s sites. Of course, he might add some more before the end of play on Sunday. It will be very interesting where we end up by the ends of the season. The key is the size of the broods. We have ringed three broods of seven, two bro0ds of six, one of four and two of three. Four and three is our usual brood size. An unbelievable start to the season!
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 