Lazy pigs - Stuck on 69

69 pairs of Long-eared Owls have fledged a minimum of 160 young this season in VC66 (Co.Durham).

An impressive number of pairs, although not the best productivity with an average of 2.3 fledged per nest.
Durham Bird Clubs new County Recorder Andrew Kinghorn will be collating all this years data to forward to BTO and Rare Birds Breeding Panel.
Following the guidance notes from the latter, we also have a number of "probable" and "possible" pairs to add to the tally.

A few hardly souls are still trying, but I havnt been able to do much for a week or so - so we are stuck for the moment on 69.

Hopefully we will get a nice big fat round 70 to finish the season....

Lots of great owl images this year - this is one of my favourites :-

This male returning with prey, sits up in the open canopy of a stand of mature Ash on the edge of a Tawny Owl territory. This is the location I had him being harassed while hunting by a Buzzard. We think he's stopping off like this to check "the coast is clear"....? More often than not males just bee-line straight back & make a pass to females or direct to the larger young. 

One of mine - branched youngster in favoured Elderberry - downy body covering not too far away in colouration from the Elder blossom - a good spot to hide during the day.

A couple more from John Gardiner :-

Hiding in plain sight - very easy to walk past - superb camo

and the same bird a few weeks later :-

almost fully developed now - ear tufts growing in nicely.

A cracking image - despite being fully winged, its takes a while for the youngster to perfect the art of flight - they'll quite often choose an open area to roost, allowing easier access - as opposed to thick tangles the adults can get into with ease.

I have watched young "bounce" off Hawthorns springy outer foliage when trying to get in to land - its at this stage they'll prefer a more open perch in Elder, Ash or Birch for example.

Once they hone their flight skills they'll be able to get in & out of the thorn easier - making them a harder prospect to locate - in fact August / September are the times our Leos are seldom seen - roosting together quietly in family parties.

Well, theres time yet to enjoy the remainder of the breeding cycle before things go quiet for a month or two - fingers crossed for #70.

Tawny Owl Deep Chamber Egg Theft

Heres an interesting one from Spring 2015


22 March 2015
Found a New Tawny Owl nest site, with a clutch in a chimney-like hollow Sycamore.

pic from second visit

The bird came off on the initial visit, but second visit she never moved. (pic above)
The chimney-like cavity was a good 10-12 foot deep, with the clutch only a few feet off the ground.
Id imagined the young would be well on before they manage to climb / flap their way out of this one.... (spoke too soon !)


29 March 2015
Second visit, the female sitting tight

Clutch pic from initial find visit.

3 April 2015
Third visit, - we were expecting young (cp other local nests) ,  Jack (nearly 10 y/old) was happy to go up, he wanted to see the bird sitting, but he called down that there was no bird & only 3 eggs & a hole ! - Three eggs & a hole we echoed - I couldn't wait to get up & see....

Jack shouted down "theres 3 eggs & a hole !"

An egg had indeed gone from the Tawny nest..... what a mystery...
We moved round to have a look at the base for the first time & saw the basal cavity for the first time... our cogs were starting to whirr...

The Evidence - Saw dust at the base of the cavity....

On closer inspection at ground level, it was clear the hole had been dug from underneath & the nest predated from below, with, presumably a Stoat (see him regularly close by) having come in the basal cavity & dug up through several inches of soft decayed timber to access the nest chamber.

The family pondering the mystery....

As we moved of we had a Consolation in the form of nice views of a Roe Deer (doe) while we talked through this unusual encounter.

Post Script - I meant to go back & try to fill it in with some rocks.... possibly a couple of years left in that stem....

Familiarity breeds...

Ive wandered around OFFH (on foot from home) on & off for a decade.
Winter is The Season here, we're Spoilt rotten. The Five, along with another 105 bird species by the end of January means there's always something to look for.
This year I thought I'd pay attention to some lesser known paths & see what surprises lay unfound.
Despite strong coverage, we still manage to turn up new pairs of Leos every couple of years, & keep an open mind as landscapes change & evolve.
However, a seemingly conspicuous & easily located bird like Little Owl.... well you'd presume they were all bagged & tagged by now...
Close to the very well known Bog, there are several Parts unknown & these have looked "super-owly" in passing.
 A recent recce found asio pellets along the fenceline & a single Bigg Luggs in Elderscrub close by.
The same visit produced a Woodcock feeding out in the open, which I managed to photograph. (link below).
This "finding" is what motivates me & I planned to come back over.
A week later & I was back in the same area, I had a Jack Snipe on the ground, but stepped back to enable a photo & put up another which i nearly trod on. Both vanished...
Surely a good omen, Woodcock last time, Jack Snipe this - I dreamed of a big Leo roost along the way...
The woods proved to be not so fruitful & I headed up a hedgerow. Approaching a fine Ash I looked up to be met with a very disgruntled Little Owl. His mate sat in a crack in the next tree along.
You could have blown me over, I've been past here with the family & never gave it a glance - what a surprise a new pair of Littles.
With 50 or more pairs in this 10km sq, I thought we'd found a good few, especially pleased with this being only about a mile or so from home.
I managed a digi-binned picture & its gone down well on Flickr with 9,000 views in a few days !
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16718162@N06/15654704173/in/photostream/player/"




So hopefully there'll be less familiarity & more owls in the coming year.



https://www.flickr.com/photos/16718162@N06/16222367935/

Brown owls poem n photo

The Brown Owl sits in the Ivy bush
and she looketh wondrous wise
With a horny beak beneath her cowl
and a pair of large round eyes 

Pair of Tawnies in an 'Ivy-bush'.

(im still looking for #6 in the previous post, but im told its definately there !)

as the headmaster used to say.....

six of the best.

( well, six of the second best, 'cos they're Shorties )

Photo with kind permission of David Kray, Hurworth Burn Res, Co.Durham.

Eviction update and daylight Barn Owl !

Having lost their spot in a roost tree to a Tawny, the "evicted" Long-eareds have only moved @ 25metres

They dont seem too put off and have been calling n displaying as usual at dusk.

A rare treat for us Up in Weardale, when we happened upon a day-time hunting Barn Owl !
by far the most difficult species to catch sight of across much of the County.

It landed in a tree and i managed a digi-binned record-ish shot!

The next field across held an old barn and obvious signs of who's occupying it  :-

 1,000's of pellets here - including several big fresh black ones
This site is moorland edge , at over 400 m / als, with pockets of snow in the shady dyke-backs - its pleasing to know Barn oels are still present after 2 previous bad snowy winters.

22 Feb - Warm as a Toast

WARNING
This entry contains information relating to the propulsion of persons in a motor vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine.

The school was shut today - one of those Insect days where the teachers get down to the nitty gritty
Re-writing politically correct versions of nursery rhymes & vote on what to ban next in the school yard . . . conkers, snowballs etc.
I dont know about them, they were probably working flat out after the rollocking Ofstead gave 'em, but we certainly had fun during the day.

Towards the end of it, we drove ( !!! ) out into the countryside, to one of our 5-owl sites (NZ24)

We found a nice vantage point, sat the little down on rucksack on a perfect log-seat, wrapping him in a fleece blanket.


Warm as a Toast

Fieldfares we coming in to roost after a day of feding on the sunny, south facing slopes of autumn sown crops & Partridge called & chased all around us.

Still snow where the sun hadnt managed to get to & a bit of it appeared to move . .
We squeaked it in so far, but the breeze was ahind & it dropped off the radar as quickly as it had appeared. This looked to be a different individual, with a few brown flecks showing through.

Jacks seen plenty of Stoats & white Ermine twice before, we even had one disappear down a hole carrying a vole within 10 feet.
We call them Toasts
( after "someone" called out "theres a Toast" - as one ran over the road in front of us! )

Distant, but naked eye views Barn & Shorty wheeling about & 2 Hares chasing - well one was doing the chasing anyway.

Just as the light was going a male Long-eared began to hoot, then he flew up to perch openly against a snowy backdrop.
He went out to hunt straight off, some Fieldfares scattered, but couldnt see him trying for anything, so we packed up failing to get a close view of any owl.

Jack pointed up at the half moon, then later walking back spyed another one - obviouslythe other half.

It amazes me that he'll walk off ahead not bothered about the very low lighting, but doesnt like the light off in the house.


Jack leads the way - camera wasnt quick enough to catch the owl !

We were half way back when a Leo went past silhouetted against the top of the slope.
We stopped & he barked a note of disapproval
" think i can hear a dog " - in fact his was a very good description.
Despite the warning note, a female could be heard calling every 6 seconds or so - she must have seen him coming returning - the females call more rapidly when their mates are coming back - maybe she thought he was returning with their supper ?

Closer to the car (while spotting the missing half of moon), little 'un stopped again
"think i can hear a amblance dad"
then the siren went again
"no its a police" he reassured me as he continued walking on ahead.

We do it sparingly & wouldnt like to think i would brain wash the little fella
he wont be 5 for a couple of months yet - but im sure he'll grow to appreciate the natural world around him & have an affinity with it.

If you have an interest in nature then surely you can never be bored.

19 Jan 2010 - Barn Owls & Snow

A few recent reports of Barn Owls hunting over the snowy western side of Durham . . .



pic by Davy Johnson.

We're waiting for the white stuff to clear up a bit, before we get on with the nextbatch of boxes.

Pic below from Derek The Finch showing a bird with prey



it dived through that deep snow to catch its prize.

A couple of new BO pairs have come to light up there recently, with Mr Gavsterley locating a pair hunting yestday afternoon close to moorland edge @ 250/300 m/asl.
These are faring okay, but what above those further way out west & a lot higher up . . .
We found a Barnie roosting late in 2008 at 460m/asl (the highest elevated county record to date) - it made it through a couple of weeks of snow cover last year - not sure how it will have managed since mid December though . . .

--------------------------------------

NB: Heres a link to todays article from national Barn Owl expert Colin Shawyer

http://www.bocn.org/news

14th Jan 2010 - Thor / Leo

snow starting to go


the ice will take a bit longer - some open water at Ch'Moor.


one day i'll get a real camera

Met up with Foghorn for a couple of hours
There was no sign of our intended target, but we managed a few nice birds inc Jack Snipe, Water Rail, Short-eared Owl



Ch Moor
The only ice free water in the local area - worth keeping an eye on. 2pr Wigeon, 10Lapwing, 20Teal, 3Snipe, Pied Wagtail, Heron, 16Moorhen etc. Again many gulls on flood water including a 2nd winter Med Gull.



Small nos of birds moving back into area over last 2 days including Skylarks, winter thrushes, Wood Pigeon, Starling, Lapwing etc