In January some friends who have large derelict barns on their property invited us over to help construct a Barn Owl box. We got the instructions from “The Barn Owl Trust” website. The box was made and positioned high up on the edge of one of the barns.
This spring my friends thought that at first it was only “pesky crows” interested in the box. However, to their surprise they saw barn owls coming out of it one day. A few months on, after seeing the pair exit the box again, they quickly put up a ladder and popped their mobile phone in through the hole and took this photograph. To me it looks like three baby owls.
A barn owl lays eggs a few days apart, typically three. Often however it is only the oldest chicks which survive. Sometimes even cannibalism takes place with older chicks eating the runt.
Two months later our friend popped up the ladder again for another photo and this is what he saw, two very healthy looking barn owlets.
At the same time as erecting the barn owl box, CCTV cameras were installed. This past week the cameras seem to have shown fledglings trying out their wings around the barn and swinging together on a hanging candelabra hoop. The cameras can see infra red and so pick up the barn owls swooping past in the dark. We noticed that they were coming out, not from the box itself but from other old buildings into the barn. This was happening about half an hour before dusk.
So yesterday evening I set up a hide in the opposite barn and sat very quietly. I had the big lens set up on the tripod but the light was too poor and so I abandoned it and just decided to use my eyes, which are far better at adapting to light conditions than a camera. The photo above is from my phone and actually there is a barn owl in the middle of the picture if you know exactly where to look!
As after 20 minutes my patience was rewarded. The most beautiful white and gold creature flew silently up onto the hoop and hopped about around it. Then like an angel it flew around various parts of the barn and I heard another owl. They screeched and grunted at each other. I could hear them land on the rafters above and behind me. One flew straight towards the tent opening, like a ghost descending then it went over the top.
I got worried that one might try and fly into the confined space of where I was sitting and got unnerved by the eerie sounds right behind the tent, so I took my exit and so did an owl, screeching loudly, now more devil like than angel.
Before leaving for home I had a few more walks around the barns and saw the white of the owls illuminated against the grey, rainy sky. What a treat to see them at last! And great to know the barn owl box has been such a success.
Sarah's Wildlife Watch 