I bailiff a local fishing pond and would like to know if any one can identify this owl I caught on the cctv camera. I know it's not a great photo, but any help would be grateful, so I can get nesting boxes up for next year. The pond is on the outskirts of a village and has fields and a few small wooded areas all around. Many thanks Paul
I found this on a Barn Owl box ........... regarding Tawny Owls, they seem to have plans for the very deep boxes but I remember speaking to a birding expert and from what I remember they opting to use something with less depth. If I manage to get a photo of one of the tawny nest boxes I'll post it here for you.
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Regards, Hazel
Thankyou Hazel
Forgot to say a clear flight path from the boxes are essential so positioning is important as you no doubt already are aware of.
What will help is what calls have you heard - and I'm not sure I think its a Barn Owl now having read up that Tawny's will fish and frog! - they will also predate Barn Owls - I think there was recent footage of a Tawny taking Barn chicks
https://theowlstrust.org
Cin J
Hazy thank you. The pond is around 2 and half acre and boarded on 3 sides with fields, the hedgerow around these 3 side will be kept around 6 or 7 foot high. There is a nice old oak tree at 1 corner looking out across the 2 of these fields where I'm thinking of putting the box looking out over them
sounds a fantastic area with ideal habitat especially if there is a lovely old oak tree and hopefully other woodland close by. I was lucky enough a month ago to see two young tawny owls released back into the wild (after they were taken into a wildlife hospital - they were found (not together but in two different areas) on the ground shortly after fledging; owls will start "branching" after they fledge as they start stretching their wings, strengthening their bodies and although they can often climb back up a tree people often think the chicks need rescuing and take them to wildlife centres). Unfortunately, I cannot post up photos of them due to BTO guidance but these were three and half months old and still quite downy ! they flew up strongly into trees in an arboretum area so hope they are doing well. At certain times of year we can hear the tawny owls around our home as there is a lot of woodland around us and plenty of room for all manner of wildlife. Good luck with your project and I'll still try find you a photo of a recently installed tawny nest box so you can compare to the older style box.
this is one of the tawny owl boxes and still pretty deep.