THE BARNIE'S HAVE GONE, IT'S A BIT OF A MYSTERY?

Stephen Carter has checked on the young Barn Owls twice since the last time I posted about them both times obviously under schedule 1 licence.
The both visits were made with his ringing guru Denis Jackson (who is also a schedule 1 licence owner) when they arrived at the nest site one of the owlets had gone, but gone where? they searched the barn and surrounding vicinity no sign, and there were also no sign that it was attacked or killed. The young Owl was apparently to undeveloped to have left the nest on it's own accord with it still having lots of down on it's body instead of feathers. Steve seems to think that perhaps it fell from the nest site and was predated upon by a fox and carried away.
Anyway with one healthy chick still in the nest Steve and Denis set about ringing the chick so they could leave the site as soon as possible to leave the birds in peace.

the last remaining chick out of a clutch of 9 eggs.

Steve rings the last remaining owlet

 A return visit by Steve and Denis a week or so later revealed sadly that the last Owlet had also gone, but like it's sibling where had it gone? I hope that they both left the nest and are hiding out somewhere still being looked after by the parents. But like I said about the disappearance of the first chick they could be to young to be out of the nest and with this cold rainy weather we've been having could the parent birds find enough food for them to survive. All in all it's a bit of a mystery. 

Thanks once again to Stephen Carter for the pic of the owl and thanks to Denis Jackson for the pic of Steve cheers guys.

WINDHOVER

This Kestrel was hunting near the house today and came close enough for me to grab an image or three. This female has been around the area for a good few weeks and is a welcome sight.(The male has less mottling and has a blueish grey head and tail.) now, now that's enough of the technical shite.
The nickname windhover obviously comes from the birds ability to hover effortlessly whilst hunting for small mammals. They are seen mostly by motorway drivers as they hunt the undisturbed verges, but they are not as common as they once were.

kestrel

the windhover

falco tinnunculus

You Spring/Autumnwatch viewers would know that the Kestrel is declining after being at one time our most common day flying bird of prey, and the show are asking for us keen birders to send in our sightings to help with a Kestrel survey they're doing so I'd better get on and do it.  

FIELDFARE

Above our house there are a few berry trees and whilst driving past them this week I saw a Fieldfare this bird is a winter migrant from Scandinavia and so must have only arrived here over the last couple of weeks.  So this morning I got my camera and drove up near the berry tree and waited, in only a couple of minutes the Fieldfares as well as other birds started to arrive. Managed a few half decent pic's but couldn't get any with the birds not in amongst the twigs well no decent one's anyway.

fieldfare

fieldfare

fieldfare

turdus pilaris

There were also other thrush's attracted by the berry's, this Mistle Thrush and female Blackbird were having a berry feast in-between being chased off by the dominant Fieldfare

mistle thrush

blackbird

 Was hoping for a few Redwing (another winter thrush) but none were seen. I hope they do turn up would love to get an image of one.

A CHECK ON THE BARNIES

Wildlife and bird conservationist Stephen Carter has been over the nest site twice since I last posted about the Barn Owls.
On his first visit the Owlets were very shy trying to hide in the corner from him but he did get a good image of one of them. They were both very healthy with a good supply of food around them, you can also see some of the unhatched eggs of the original clutch of 9.

the chicks trying to hide in the corner with some of the unhatched eggs.

barn owl chick (very cute)

He's been over again recently to check on them and due to the torrential rain and high winds we've had recently he feared the worst.
 But against the odds the barn owl chicks had grown quite a bit, were very healthy and also had a large larder of voles so the adult birds must be brilliant parents. They look more like Barn owls now and should hopefully leave the nest in about 3/4 weeks time.

Barnie chicks doing well despite the stormy weather they've had to put up with.

  Thanks again must go to schedule 1 licence owner Stephen Carter for supplying me with these photo's and the information. This is the only known site for breeding Barn owls in my area so we need more nest boxes put up and sites like this one to expand it's population.

WELSH WILDLIFE CENTRE

The wife took me to the Welsh Wildlife Centre in Cilgerran in West Wales for my 50th birthday. We were booked on a ferry to go to Skomer Island to watch the sea birds and a bit of vis-mig (visual migration) but the weather was against us and so the ferry was cancelled due to rough seas "ah well".
We enjoyed the wildlife centre though it was only £3 to park your car and the rest was free there was also a lovely visitors centre with feeders so you could watch the birds in the dry and a nice little restaurant where we had our lunch after running from hide to hide dodging the rain showers.

visitors centre

that's a big badger

Tina at one of the hides

who's this 50 year old twitcher! ?

There wasn't a massive amount of birds seen but the weather was atrocious, we managed a few photo's but didn't get the kingfisher it kept flying passed the hide but never settled for us to grab a picture.

where's that kingfisher?

grey heron

curlew

carrion crow

cormorant

canada goose

These last two images was taken by Tina, think they're the best of the lot but don't tell her that, I'll never live it down!

canada goose just landing

mute swan

 Big thanks to the wife for a cracking weekend, also to my sister Pat and brother-in-law John for giving us the guided tour of Cardigan and a good night out. Cheers.
                                         
                               

  

BARN OWLS

I was lucky enough to be invited to an undisclosed Barn Owl site today with Stephen Carter and Lee Parsons. Steve is a schedule 1 licence owner for Barn Owls so he is allowed to check the nest and photograph the birds.
Barn Owls suffered quite a bit during the early spring with breeding attempts all over the country failing badly due to the freezing temperatures. The adult birds themselves had quite high mortality rates they  just couldn't find enough food in the cold weather to sustain themselves let alone a brood of hungry owlets.
The reports are now that Barn Owls are having successful late broods so should hopefully bounce back. They usually nest between April - June but have been recorded breeding in every month of the year except January.
On Steve's last visit there were 9 eggs in the nest which is really just a pile of the birds regurgitated pellets.



the nine barn owl eggs


On this visit there were only 2 chicks that had made it this far but they were very healthy and very sleepy with a small larder of voles to keep them going.

2 sleepy barn owl chicks

 We also saw the female adult bird as she flew out of the nest, a beautiful bird pity the photographs didn't do it justice. The light was pretty poor so I suppose we can't complain at least we got an image.



the female Barn Owl flying from the nest site



stunning bird pity about the pic's

Blurry Barn Owl

best shot of the lot of the Barnies backside

Big thanks to Steve and Lee and lets hope the weather is kind to the Owls and them 2 remaining chicks make it. Steve will be back at the site to ring the chicks in a week or two so I hope to keep you updated on their progress. Once again cheers fellas brilliant experience.

AUTUMN IS HEAR

The nights are drawing in and with the days now noticeably shortening it's a sure sign that autumn is here. The berries are on the trees and the leaves are started to turn into their autumn colours and our summer visitors are all but gone. The Swallows we had breeding in two of my sheds and the Redstarts we had breeding in our nest boxes the Willow Warblers and Tree pipits have all left. A few stragglers may still hang on for a week or two but most migrants are making their way to the coast where they'll feed up before making their epic flights south to the Mediterranean, Africa and beyond.
The winter migrants that visit us from Scandinavia, Iceland and Artic Russia will soon be arriving, birds like Redwings, Fieldfares, Whooper and Bewick swans, our winter Geese and Ducks, Waxwings, Snow Buntings and Bramblings which I was lucky enough to have come to my feeders and photograph last winter will soon be flying in to escape the harsh winters of the North.

male brambling

female brambling

whooper swan

waxwing

Although autumn is officially here this September has been fairly mild and I've noticed that the birds haven't been coming to my feeders in any great numbers perhaps there's still plenty of natural food about at the moment.

greenfinch

goldfinch

juvenile great spotted woodpecker

An hour and a half photography session today was really quiet with these three the pick of the bunch.