2021 Mid-season Status

Barn Owl box checking in our study area has revealed 18 nest attempts, with a further 4 occupied boxes where nesting hasn't yet started.

So far, 22 chicks have been ringed at 9 of these nests, with brood sizes of : 4/3/3/3/3/3/1/1/1; an average brood size of 2.4.

Egg-laying started at the earliest nest on 24th March, but a number of pairs only began laying after the heavy rains in May. The chicks at these later nests won't be old enough for ringing until mid-August.

 

Marlow Peregrines

A pair of peregrines took up residence on Marlow All Saints church in 2020. So early this year Wild Marlow organised to install a nest platform fitted with a camera to monitor events.

The pair nested with three chicks surviving from a clutch of four eggs. At 22 days old the chicks were fitted with identification rings by Middle Thames Ringing Group. The orange colour-rings with large black letters can be read by a camera or telescope. So it is hoped to learn where these chicks disperse to over their lifetime.

Such data will add to the scientific understanding of the peregrine population's survival, longevity and dispersal pattern, helping to formulate strategies for their conservation.
 

Thanks go to Marlow All Saints church for supporting Wild Marlow's efforts in this conservation success story.

 Wild Marlow

 Middle Thames RG

Editor's note: Post-fledging, one of the chicks has been seen on St Luke's Church, Maidenhead.

First Barn Owl egg of 2021

 

The 2021 Barn Owl nesting season is underway with the first egg being laid in one of our "camera" boxes today - a fairly typical date.

Editors note: a nest was subsequently found where egg laying had commenced on 24th March

BBOG Report 2020

The BBOG Report for 2020 is available by clicking on this link: BBOG Report 2020

Kestrel surprises a Barn Owl

This barn owl returned to one of our boxes only to find a kestrel had moved in. Not sure which got the bigger surprise!

Chistmas Common Farm Cluster

We've recently begun working with the Christmas Common Farm Cluster to roll-out a Barn Owl project. There are 18 farms involved in the Farm Cluster, spread over an area of South East Oxfordshire and South Buckinghamshire.

The first task is to survey the farms and recommend on the suitability for owl or kestrel boxes.

Some of the farms already have owl boxes, but which have never been monitored

Our surveying got off to a good start yesterday, finding a barn owl pair roosting in a box inside a disused barn.

Here is a  photo of the female:

 

Barn Owl female - 1 year old

 

 

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A difficult Barn Owl nesting season

Due to Covid-19 we've had to carry out our Barn Owl monitoring in a "socially distanced" format. Despite this, we've managed to check 56 of the most likely boxes within our RAS area.

The results show a very poor breeding season with just seven nest attempts, four of which failed at the egg stage. No doubt owing to a lack of voles for prey.

Four chicks have been ringed at the three surviving nests.

It will be interesting to see if this picture is repeated across the region.

As last year was a bumper breeding season, this shouldn't pose a long-term risk to the local Barn Owl population.