(C) Dorset Wildlife Trust Lorton Meadows Barn Owls combined with (C) Len Pick Trust Barn Owl Project 2020 & 2021

Kate has a couple of pics to start us off!  Thanks for your pics Kate!

Still having a quiet cuddle ... just remembered bonus with this webcam is sound!

  • Len Pick..........Yay! lens has been cleaned and the elder showing off its bling

  • Confirmation email from LP ... lovely pics on site!
    ***Our chicks have been ringed.
    by lenpicktrust
    Today our licensed ringers visited the owl tower and ringed the two remaining chicks.
    The eldest is nearly four weeks old but they were too young to be sexed. Both owlets were healthy and well fed.
    We think the male was roosting in the nearby barn so his ring number couldn't be checked. The female was the same bird which bred here last year. She was born in Morton, not far from the tower, in July 2018.
    Viewers will hopefully notice a vast improvement in picture quality today as we cleaned the cobwebs and dust from the camera lens. The chicks will be in the box for several weeks but there will be occasions when they will leave the nest chamber to explore the entrance tunnel leading to the nest. They won't venture away from the tower until their wings develop properly.***
  • Here are a couple of photos that were attached to the Diary notes as posted above (thank you Wendy!)

    Female

    Chicks

    ©Len Pick Trust

  • Oooooh indeed Kate!

    Not being incubated, most unusual?

  • The answer by email today ...
    ***Why has a new egg has appeared in the nest chamber?
    by lenpicktrust
    one egg 06.07.20At 5.30pm yesterday a stock dove visited the nest box and laid an egg. This is not unusual in barn owl nests but they rarely succeed.
    Stock doves lay two eggs and incubate them from the first so it is unlikely she will return to lay the second. She isn't far away as her daylight purring can be heard in the tunnel to the nest chamber.
    The adult owls have been hunting quite late these past few nights as the strong winds has been hampering them. The female has also started hunting as the chicks don't need brooding. They are four weeks old and can regulate their own temperature.
    Sometimes viewers can get the impression the adult owls have not been seen very frequently. As the chicks grow the parents roost away from the box during daylight hours in a nearby tree or barn. Rest assured they return at night with food as the hissing calls of the chicks travel a long way and spur the adults to keep hunting whatever the weather.
    There is no doubt this is a very poor year for their main prey the short tailed vole. So they are dependant on field mice, small rats and shrews. However, the forthcoming harvest should provide a glut of mice for a few weeks which will help our chicks at the time they will need this food the most***
  • Well done Wendy, and Thank you, I was waiting for your intervention and response CHOL:):)

    Interesting re the Dove, and we never spotted her...
  • I did wonder if it was a Dove's egg Kate but didn't really expect it to have gone in there with owlets present ... mind you I did discover pigeon egg on one of the Cathedral Peregrine' scrape at start of this season!
  • Morphed into a little furry critter CHOL:):)