Tawny Owl kills Barn Owl intruder

Tawny Owl(f) incubating next to dead Barn Owl

Events took a dramatic turn at this Tawny Owl box.

A Barn Owl entered the box and fought with the much larger female Tawny Owl.

In the melee the 4-day old Tawny Owl chick was killed.

After a 2 hour struggle, the Barn Owl was killed by the female Tawny Owl.

Part of the conflict can be viewed here:
Warning: younger viewers may find this footage distressing.
Tawny Owl and Barn Owl fighting


The Tawny Owl resumed incubating the remaining egg, but the egg did not hatch and the box was abandoned a few days later.

Footnote: the Barn Owl was unringed, and not one of the resident pair from the box 500m away. It was a female fledged last year, so was probably trying to evict the Tawny Owls and take over their nest site.


 

First Tawny Owl egg of 2018

Tawny Owl(f) with first egg

The snow and cold of early March did not delay this female Tawny Owl from egg-laying for very long, as the first egg appeared on 16th March.

Tawny Owl(f) incubating amid snow

But with more snow arriving on easterly winds on 17th March, she probably wishes she'd waited a few more days.

Update:
The clutch was completed with a second egg.
The first chick hatched 16th April.

State of the UK Barn Owl Population 2017

The Barn Owl Trust report on the UK Barn Owl population in 2017 is available by clicking on the following link:

State of the UK Barn Owl population in 2017

A wintry start to spring

Standard advice for siting owl boxes is to face them away from the prevailing south-westerly wind and rain. However the start of March saw a week of snow-storms driven across the UK on strong easterlies.

Tawny Owl(f) on bed of snow!

As a result several of our owl boxes have seen an ingress of snow. Though thankfully it seems not to have disrupted this Tawny Owl unduly (it hadn't yet started laying).

Whether this snowy cold snap has caused an increase in owl mortality, and will lead to a delay in egg-laying this year remains to be seen.
  

Nigel Snell R.I.P.

It was with much sadness that we learnt that Nigel Snell had died in hospital earlier this month, after several months of ill-health.

Nigel had a lifetime passion for wildlife, accumulating a knowledge of many areas of natural history. He was perhaps best-known for his role in the re-introduction of Red Kites to the Chilterns, being the project co-ordinator for English Nature and the RSPB.

When BBOG was first formed, Nigel's help was invaluable in introducing us to the landowners in the Hambleden Valley, so we could monitor the Barn Owl boxes that he had installed in the past.

Nigel was always generous with his time and advice. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

An obituary in the Henley Standard can be found here:

http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/hambleden/120732/nigel-snell-november-11-1936-january-7-2018.html

  

BBOG Report 2017

The BBOG Report for 2017 is available by clicking on the link below:

BBOG Report 2017

Honey bees rescued

Honey Bee colony in a Little Owl box

We often find wasps and hornets taking up residence in our owl boxes.

But this month's surprise was to find an active colony of honey bees occupying one of our little owl boxes.

With the help of a local bee-keeper we were able to relocate the colony to a bee-hive where they were provided with enough food to see them through the winter. Honey bees can survive the winter cold, but not a lack of food.

Honey bee populations have been in steady decline for many years due to a combination of threats including changing agricultural practices, neo-nicotinoids, the varroa mite pest, Asian hornets and climate change. So it is good to be able to give them a helping hand.