I was joined by Claire and Miranda at 10:00 this morning to check on the boxes we didn’t do last week. We started at Lower Pavenhill Farm. Back in May we ringed seven chicks and left the eighth, as it was too small to ring. We drove carefully through the 40-odd mares and foals, plus a couple of stallions, down to the box. For once they ignored us completely, and we didn’t have to guard the car from getting licked or nibbled to pieces. On approaching the box a Barn Owl flew out. Looking in, the box was empty, apart from a mountain of pellets. I dug through the mass looking for signs of brood cannibalism, of which there were none, so I am pretty confident that the brood fledged successfully. The sheer number of pellets gave testament to that!
From there we went to White Lodge Farm. This is just over the road from Gospel Oak Farm. The first box is down the farm track and, until recently, had Jackdaws nesting there. This year we caught an adult male Barn Owl roosting in there back in May. Possibly the male from the brood at Gospel Oak. Anyway, Andrew, the farmer, had taken some video of a Barn Owl visiting their second box, in a small yard at the back of their house:
We went to check the box and had a lovely time with some very friendly, and totally gorgeous, pygmy goats. What we found was quite interesting: not Barn Owls but a squirrel dray. I wonder if the owl was visiting for food? Regardless, the lining of the nest box was primarily oak leaves and, as I pulled them out, the goats came over to join us. One was so keen he stepped up the ladder alongside Miranda! Anyway, apart from a slight worry that my companions might try to smuggle out one of the goats, it was a satisfactory conclusion. Hopefully next year we might find Barn Owls nesting.
From there we went to Waterhay. Back in May there was nothing to get excited about. Today was worse. These are the boxes:
The Chapel box (1) was empty again. I will move it this winter. There is a suitable tree about 10m away. For those who watched Poldark, the Chapel is where they filmed his wedding to Demelza!
From there we went to box 2: empty last time, empty this time. Last year the entire brood was predated before we had a chance to ring them: too small when we first saw them, dead and gone with signs of carnage when we returned a month later. Next was box 3. That had three Jackdaw chicks in it when we went in May. Last year we found three chicks at the same stage in the same box at the same time: they were all dead. No idea why. This year they had fledged successfully. Unfortunately, it also threw up the most tragic find we have had this year:
We found 10 stone cold Barn Owl eggs in the nest! They were at various stages of development but definitely dead. Box 4 we didn’t even get to. The field had half-a-dozen thoroughbred horses in it and, even before we had got into the first field, they were prancing around, snorting and totally neurotic. I decided that discretion was needed, especially as one of the crew had already stated her fear of horses and cattle.
From there we went to Swillbrook Farm:
We met with Chris, the head farmhand, at box 1. This is a typically successful Barn Owl box: falling to pieces and rotting in situ. Chris is going to replace it this winter. As we approached one bird flew out. Three young were ringed in May. Unfortunately, we did find the remains of one of the three, but there was no sign of predation in the box. However, the front of the box had fallen off and we did think it likely that this bird had probably fallen from the box and met its fate that way! Miranda was delighted: I have never seen so many Barn Owl pellets! She had already collected a load from Lower Pavenhill Farm, but this was way beyond that: a large bagful, which is why I am pretty confident that this box was successful! Miranda is Chair of the Malmesbury and District Natural History Society and one of their pleasures is dissecting Barn Owl pellets. I think her group will be well pleased.
Box 2 was in a tree near the entrance to the farm but that blew down and Chris repositioned it to its current spot two winters ago. This year we found a few pellets, so it is being used as a roost. Then to box 3. This was originally positioned in the small barn to the left of the tree, but that collapsed in the same winds that brought the tree down. Chris had, again, moved it to a new position. Again, this was a bit sad as, although no Barn Owls were involved, we found two addled Stock Dove eggs.
So, to sum up this year’s breeding season, we ringed 45 Barn Owl pulli, of which we are confident 44 fledged successfully from 9 boxes, an average of 4.89 per box. Definitely our best ever year. The previous best was in 2021, with 26 from 8 boxes, i.e. 3.25 per box! Quite astonishing. Jonny Cooper started ringing Barn Owls independently, but as my agent under my schedule 1 licence, since 2023. In that first year he ringed 1 pullus, 2024 it was 2 from one box, last year was four from two boxes and this year a mere 42 from 11 locations: 3.82 per box. He has also managed to catch and ring seven adult owls this year. It had clearly been a bumper year for voles and field mice, unlike last year. We found no evidence of any non-rodent predation in the boxes: no Starling or Goldfinch remains.
Jackdaws were pretty standard for us: six pulli split between two boxes. For the last three years running we have found no Stock Doves to ring. Jonny has had a much better year with them than we have with 20 pulli ringed from eight nests and a couple of adult birds.