One day I’d love to be able to survey everything we have on the farm. Just to see what mammals or plants or insects we have would be great fun. With time and resources lacking I’ve decided that looking at this Tawny owl pellet (found on the farm) to be a good way of seeing what mammals we house. So this is my guide to dissecting an owl pellet.
In my excitement I forgot to photograph the owl pellet untouched. But the first step is to soak it in water and this picture is of it after that. This allows you to break the pellet up easily.
Using cocktail sticks and tweezers, search through the pellet and take out anything you find and wash them off in water. Leave them to dry on kitchen roll or newspaper. Here is what was in mine: (I would like to mention though that I’m not an expert by any means so these identifications could be wrong)
The next step is to start to identify the bones and see what your owl is eating. So my pellet was found practically on the dairy and with all the old buildings it must be a good location for hunting. Using an ID guide I could tell that there is Brown Rat and House Mouse in this bird’s diet. All the others bones would more than likely be from either of these two species. The fur was a grey colour and a dark grey when wet, which again would indicate rat. If your pellet is from a Little owl or Kestrel then a dissecting microscope is needed to identify beetles. I doubt anyone reading this has one (if you do then top work!) but by just using a magnifying lens or observing closely the shiny wing cases would be visible.
My message of this then is to go out and try and find a pellet (responsibly) and discover what your birds are eating. It’s a great way to see what is on your local patch or in your garden too!
The guide I used which was very useful is here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/Owlpellets_tcm9-133500.pdf
Leanne T