Day Somethingorother...

Whoops!
I figured I should finally get round to updating my blog!

I won't bore you too much and ramble on, but basically since my last post, I've been in contact with Mr. Sheppard, and have joined him whilst he was out ringing some new chicks. It was incredible, I got to hold 3 adult barn owls and 2 chicks :)

While I was out I learnt so much about the owls, such as how to identify their age through the patterns on their feathers, how they manage to fly in complete silence, and how to identify males and females through different markings on their bodies.

Since that day I have learnt the location of quite a few different roost sites/hunting areas, and there is a particular nest box that I am keeping an eye on. I wasn't there for when the chicks hatched, but Mr. Sheppard kindly sent me pictures. I now know that these chicks are about 3/4 weeks old, getting more demanding for food, so I have started keeping an eye on the nest box, watching the adults fly off and return with food :)

I am hoping that in a few weeks time I shall see the chicks sat out on top of the nest box, and watch them start to fledge!

Anyway, that's given you a rough idea of what I've been up to....here are the photos!

this little missy wasn't happy!

the size of barn owl eggs

they weren't expecting this!

'look at me!'

this guy is a rare sight apparently! many barn owls lighten the longer they are exposed to the sun, normally they take a few years to become as light as this guy, however this one is less than a year old.

this is a male, they are lighter and the underneath is normally pure white.

this is a female, notice the spots on the belly and wing :)

left ear

right ear

haha, this picture always makes me laugh :)

2 chicks

this is their threat display

they don't get up when placed on their backs. he looks like he's having a diaper change!

2 more chicks

being ringed

and again

and again :)

measuring the wing

a newly fledged owl, in absolutely perfect condition, no out of place feathers or anything :)

Day Two

Ok, so it's not really day 2, it's more like day 3, but I won't be able to go out every night/upload onto here every night. So I'll have to do it in whatever free time I have possible =]

Right, so tonight was absolutely awful for photos, I just didn't get any nice ones at all, but I did see and hear a lot. On the walk down I heard something rustling in one of the ditches, I made a noise to try and see what it was and I saw it move upwards and into the field, then a fox starting leaping through the field =] This was a huge fox though, and because it was getting dark and I couldn't see it's tail properly, I thought it was a giant hare! Silly me.

After I had gone walking around the barn again [the owls had flown off at the sound of me coming, again =( ], I had another look at the badger set, I'm pretty sure something was still using it, as I saw paw prints in the dust =]


After having a look around I went and sat patiently for the owls to return. It was still quite light so I was enjoying the scenery, and that's when I spotted a Kestrel in the distance. I walked as close as I could to it, which was still nowhere near close enough, but I got a few silhouettes.


I lost sight of the Kestrel, and then darkness fell, so I decided to head back to the barn. The owls had returned, and the sound of my footsteps on the small stones seemed to frighten them off again. Only one flew though, and even then it didn't fly very far, it went and sat on top of a telephone pole in the distance. Only when I walked round the side to sit myself down and wait for it's return did the other fly off.

That's when I heard them calling to each other. Barn Owls are mostly silent, however when they do call it is a loud screech. I can honestly say, being sat in a field, in darkness, with no other noise whatsoever [apart from a few more animals in the distance], that it is without a doubt one of the most haunting, yet amazing noises, ever to exist =]

They kept flying to and from the barn, so silently, I couldn't keep track of them! So here are some pictures from tonight's events...

Please excuse the shockingly bad photos, I can't seem to focus well in the dark. That's something I need to practice! I will show them anyway, after all, it is all going towards my research in the end =]

^ On the pole in the distance

^ In the top right corner, flying in

^ I thought he looked like a bat!

Day One

I've had a fantastic day today!

Yesterday I found a new single story barn, and when I went to approach the square hole in the wall 2 barn owls flew out! So today I decided to do a bit of research and ask around the local farms to see if they knew anything about the barns I had found. I spoke to a very friendly man called J. Christian, who told me all about the small single story barn, and he looks after it, so he knew all about the barn owls that lived there.

The single story barn with the 2 Barn Owls

He told me to talk to a man called R.C. Shepherd, and gave me his address, so I went and looked him up in the phone book. I gave him a ring and it turns out he was my old headmaster at primary school, and he remembered me well =]
It turns out that he works full time with conservation work now, and he is the one that has put all the nest boxes up in the area, he has put up over 1000 nest boxes, and monitors over 200 of them. He works with Barn Owls, Little Owls, Kestrels, the lot!

He has promised to get in touch soon so I will be able to go round with him for a day to monitor the chicks at the nests, and I will be allowed to photograph them under his license to disturb Section 1 Birds.

I have also been given permission to go around Mr. Christian's farm, to photograph the little owl that resides there =]

After finding out all of this information and spending a few hours at home, I decided to go out to the small barn again in daylight to see what was there, as I had been given permission to go and have a look around and photograph around the site.
As I was returning to the barn, I saw a kestrel fly past! So that gives me another bird to look out for while I'm spending time there.

When I arrived at the barn I walked around to the back, where it was sheltered, but open, and in the daylight I could see an awful lot more! The first thing I noticed was a series of holes and tunnels in the mud, and as I walked further in I spotted a dead badger [=( ]
I was in for a treat, I opened the sliding door and saw plenty more of the holes, and as I walked past what I think was a big plough, I saw the remains of a bird of prey, I'm pretty sure it was a bird of prey, some of the skeleton was still there along with the feathers.

So I'd found a badger set, finally =]

My mum was with me, she helped me out for a bit, and as she walked into the barn to see what she could see, I figured it might make the owls fly off, so I sat outside the barn with my camera, and sure enough, one after another the barn owls flew out from the roof and away into the fields =]

When I walked into the barn, I looked up and saw a nest box =] I'm certain that it was for the Barn Owls, but I heard nothing, so I assumed there were no chicks.
I saw another wooden door, which I presumed was the door to the part of the barn where the owls were roosting and also flew out from.

I managed to dig out the bottom of the door and squeezed in, and as I was walking on what I thought was stable ground, the ground underneath me suddenly collapsed and my foot went straight through a tunnel, sorry badgers! This room was amazing, there was a big metal trough attached to the wall, sturdy enough to walk along. It would be a perfect place to sit in and photograph the owls from the corner.
I saw a hole that went underneath the barn to outside, which I assumed would be where the badgers came out.

I waited a while for the owls to return but I think they were smart enough to realise I was still there, so I headed off, but all in all it has been a really amazing and eventful day!

Barn Owl Diaries

As I have found a new love for Barn Owls lately, and have decided to choose them to study for my species brief, I thought It would be nice to make a little diary on here, mainly for myself, but also to share with others =]

I'm just going to be keeping a track on my progress, as I [hopefully] learn more and more about the barn owls that live near my home, and I'll add pictures up along the way, quite a few will be documentary style photographs just to assist with my research and things that interest me mainly!

Just to keep you up to date so far, I already know of a small barn down the river about a 10 minute walk from my home, with a barn owl residing there, who I named Eli [pronounced 'Ee-lye'], and I've already collected a few pellets from there to dissect, so it's just a matter of keeping an eye on him, whilst doing plenty more research and hopefully finding some more barn owls in the area!

So, I hope you enjoy reading this as much I will enjoy making it, enjoy =D

'Eli' - The first owl I found =)