2015 Barn Owl box checking - Round 1 summary

Adult female barn owl

This week we completed our first round of barn owl box checking, finding a total of 21 active barn owl nests. Half of the nests are in boxes that have not been used before, including one only put up in April of this year.

Fourteen of the nests contain chicks, all but one of which are under two weeks old, with seven nests still at the egg stage. Brood sizes are smaller than last year, with no nest having more than three chicks. A further four boxes contained females that have not yet started to lay eggs.

So far this year we have ringed 15 adult barn owls and a single chick, which was 45 days old. Two adults were found that had been ringed as chicks last year, having dispersed about 6km from where they fledged.

In addition to the barn owls we also have two kestrel and two little owl nests.