TAWNY OWL

My birding buddy Stephen Carter was over again this Sunday with his ringing guru Denis Jackson and his wife Val to ring the Tawny Owlets. I'd showed him the photo's Luke took of the birds the week before and Steve said they looked big enough to ring, so we all went to the nest site where Steve climbed the tree to the box to get the youngsters down safely to start ringing.

Steve puts the ladder up to fetch the young Tawny's for ringing

After fetching the birds in a soft bag they're then put one at a time into a smaller bag to keep them calm while the ring is put on the Owlets leg.

The parent birds were flying just above us sometimes making a very agitated clicking sound. Tawny Owls can be very aggressive and are known to attack even humans around it's nest site so we had to be on our guard.

the female looking a bit agitated

Finally the last chick is ringed and I was able to get a quick snap before Steve took them back up the tree and safely into the nest box.

handsome

  I think the parent birds were happy to have their family back safe.

Great experience for myself seeing these beautiful birds up close and to see some real conservation work, even though it was a little hairy sometimes with the parent birds flying so close to us, but it shows what good parents they are.

Below is a short clip of Steve ringing the birds enjoy!!

Big thanks to Steve, Denis and Val hope you enjoyed the tea and the chat afterwards CHEERS.

EARLY NESTS

My old buddy Stephen Carter came over on Sunday 19th April to check the nest boxes and a few other places where we hoped would be lucky enough to find some natural nests.
The boxes are starting to get used up mostly by blue and great tits and nuthatches. This box is being used by a nuthatch when the female comes off the nest it covers its eggs with leaves.

Steve looking into the nuthatch box

nuthatch covers its eggs with dead leaves

 Steve also found this Robins nest with 4 eggs in.

robins nest

Next we set off down the old Farm where the spring lambs are out in good numbers they look so cute.

We went to check a Buzzard nest that was not used last year but to our delight they've come back to the site this year and the female is sitting on two eggs.

you can just make out the female on look out

the buzzards two eggs

These two squirrels were keeping me amused as I waited for Steve to check the Buzzard

Steve sent me some pics of a couple of cracking nests he's found at other sites.

mistle thrush

long tailed tit

The pics are small as Steve took them with his phone but two cracking nests.

Steve with his trusty note pad

Later that day middle step son Luke who can climb trees like a monkey checked on the Tawny owls and for the first time the female flew off to reveal 4 very healthy tawny owlets.

cute

He also climbed a Carrion crow who are nesting quite close to the Owls this had four eggs.

crows nest

A good day bird wise and its still only April, big thank you to Luke and Steve and there's more on the Tawny Owls coming shortly.

SWALLOWS

The Swallows have arrived back, and have decided to start nest building in my shed which gave me a good opportunity to get a few shots as they continually fly back and forth with nesting material. The first bird came in on April 9th and was  quickly followed by two others.

swallow with nesting material

taking a look before fetching more material

  

take off

This Willow Warbler was in fine voice and is another summer resident which visits us every year.

willow warbler

Still some summer migrants yet to arrive but the nesting season is now well and truly under-way with quite a few of my boxes being occupied and I hope to bring you news of these shortly.

IF I HAD A HAMMER....

With spring now here I've noticed that there has been a notable arrival of birds back on their breeding territories. I was delighted to see this pair back at my feeders I expect feeding up to start their breeding season.

male yellowhammer

and the female

A real pretty little Bunting looks more like a mountain Canary.

Also our annual pair of Pied Wagtail are back with Skylark and Meadow Pipit in fine voice on the moor. Also Reed Bunting starting to pair up.

pied wagtail

male reed bunting

The breeding season is here again lets hope for kind weather and great success fingers crossed.

TAWNY OWL

Went around with Luke (he's my climber) and checked the three Owl boxes we've got dotted around the place to see if there was any sign of activity. Great news in the first box as a female Tawny Owl was sitting I think on eggs but she wouldn't budge off the nest so we can't be 100 percent sure if she definitely is on eggs or just roosting as she was to lazy to move.
We went very late afternoon because if the Owls are disturbed to early in the day they might not return to the nest site until it turns dark.

two pics of the female in the nest box

  I think it's the same female as last year as the facial markings are very similar but you never know.

female taken last spring.

The other two boxes were empty but there were some signs of life so perhaps with a bit of luck we might get something in these as well.
Our Tawny Owls raised one chick last year so lets hope that the weather stays fair and they manages to fledge a couple more this year.

A SNOWY SCENE

Hard to believe that today was a lovely spring day but what a contrast to the beginning of the week when we had a covering of snow.

my feeding station

There was nothing out of the ordinary but I had a good selection in.

This Robin on a peanut feeder was a peculiar sight.

This Buzzard floated by then landed on a post.

What a contrast in the weather in one week, birds were singing and displaying today and will soon if they haven't already, be starting to nest build and may even be sitting on their first clutch of eggs.

BOX FRENZY

January /February is the time to get your bird boxes up. We've already put up one new owl box and myself and Steve Carter after a bit of modification managed to get the second box up on an old concrete post (I think this one is more like a kestrel box). It's a bit close to the house but we have a Kestrel hunting quite regularly close by so you never know "fingers crossed".

our kestrel box on an old concrete lampost

kestrel taken hunting near where the box is sighted

I've also made a few different smaller bird boxes to go with the one's we already have. This will extend our box colony and increase our chances as well as the birds for success this coming breeding season.

boxes for redstart with the square hole cut out and a tit box with the round hole

 boxes  with a bit of stain on them

I was out early this morning putting them up around the place.

open fronted box

round hole tit box with a protective steel piece around the hole

redstart box but nuthatches and tits have been known to nest in these as well

I've also had a go at making a wheatear box, these birds are early spring visitors, they usually nest amongst craggy rocks and in stone walls their nests usually is beneath the ground or into bankings. These are just an experiment to hopefully attract a pair, if anyone has any suggestions on sighting these or how to make them better than mine I'd be very grateful for the input. 

wheatear box

wheatear box sighted amongst some craggy rocks

wheatear taken near the house last summer

So I have been busy over the last week or two making my boxes and finally having time to site them. Here's some of the bird species that will hopefully nest in the boxes.

robin (open fronted nest box)

wren (square or round hole box)

blue tit (round hole box)

nuthatch (square or round hole box)

redstart (square hole box)

blackbird (open fronted box)

coal tit (round hole box)

Well they've got plenty to choose from so lets hope for a good breeding season.