This Thursday's volunteer task involved installing a barn owl box near the main lake. There was already an existing barn owl box in place, but by placing a second nearby we are hoping to encourage a female to nest in one and a male to roost in the other.
The first job was to dig a 3 ft deep hole for the telegraph pole we were using as a base.
Wardens Dean and Adam and residential volunteer Ally get to work digging.
Once the hole got too deep for spades and spits, Dean educated us in the use of two specialized tools, the rabbiting spoon, which has an extra long handle to excavate soil from the bottom of the hole, and the shuvholers, which allowed us to easily remove the soil.
Resi-vol Dan learns the merits of the rabbiting spoon.....
.....and Ally gets to grips with the shuvholers.
Meanwhile, volunteers Ian and Peter were busy cutting the telegraph pole down to the correct size. Once the hole was dug, the pole was maneuvered into place and the soil tamped firmly back in to ensure a sturdy base for the barn owls' des res. Finally, Dean fixed the box on top of the pole, and the barn owl box was ready to await the arrival of its new inhabitants. Hopefully barn owls will be tempted to move in and roost over the winter, and then nest in the spring. This would provide visitors to the reserve with an excellent view of the birds in the early summer as when feeding chicks, barn owls hunt throughout the day in order to provide enough food.
Dean and Dan proudly modeling the finished product.