First Barn Owl eggs of 2019

First egg

At one of our Barn Owl camera-boxes the first egg was laid on 20th March. The clutch was completed with 7 eggs.

UPDATE: On 23 April at another box, we found a female brooding chicks, the oldest of which was c.10days old. This implies the first egg was laid c.12 March.

These early dates may well be a result of the unusually warm weather in the second half of February giving an early boost to the vole population.