Leo - Witches broom site

Late afternoon
Went to have a look at the Long-eared Owl pair which I'm hoping may nest in a Witches Broom growth.

Directly underneath I found what must have been the previous occupant.

A rather mummified grey squirrel - this wasn't here last time, so it looks likely that the Long-eareds have removed it from the witches broom.....

Once selection has been made, females will roost at, near or even perch up on the nest prior to occupation.

I found her in the immediate area, but extremely well hidden...

a small trail of splash gave a clue as to her whereabouts

Can you see me?

Very difficult to find birds when they roost in Gorse scrub


Close by a pellet under one of the males song perches

This will be an interesting one to follow up on - never seen birds use a witches broom for nesting.
Fingers crossed.

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This is a large Hedgehog i've seen last 2 nights at our garden
It was looking worse for wear this morning - took it to get some attention - small puncture wound & blood on its back, looks like a dog has had a hold of it.

The boys are back in town.. & the girls

The wait & the worry are over...

Long-eared Owl pairs are finally back on territory.

A near perfect night saw keen members of the Bird Clubs Owl Study Group stride in action..

Males "singing" from 18:10 or so tonight & in wing clap display flights from 18:25

What an absolute relief that theyre back....

For decades they never left us....

Fingers crossed for a decent season.

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I chose a site hoping for roding Woodcock & saw my first of the year which made 2 passes, a bonus was a Snipe drumming briefly.
The female called almost constantly for 50mins - she was in a Birch which was festooned with Witches Brooms.
Ive read (Scott) that they have nested in these meristematic disorders of the tree, but have yet to see or find one, so fingers double crossed here.

A lowland Short-eared has been displaying this past week or so & mobbing human intuders so this may lead to something too hopefully....

On the other hand it may well call, spiral up hundreds of feet at dusk & pin out on the northern horizon as I watched one do on Monday....

Tawnies have been busy daylight calling, last week I heard birds from Kelloe, Bishop Auckland & close to home.

Little Owls on the other hand may have been consumed by Buzzards close to home... falling away every month it seems...

No show Leo

Dusk check at site with 2 pair Leo - single bird out hunting 17:45.
This was sole contact, no further sign, no calls, no display....

Its a worry.

Mid February 2017 - local update.

Long-eared males singing & wing-clapping at a couple of sites

Leo surveys his territory at dusk

The 1st Tawnies may well be on eggs - none checked so far
Little Owls becoming more vocal & more showy especially on the recent warm sunny days.
Our wintering Shorties continue their crepuscular activity - having been seen day flying on less than half a dozen dates.

Sunday, I stood with Mr Heron at dusk after a full 13 mile day out - he clocked a Barnie almost over our heads, with Little Owls & a silhouetted Tawny all from the same vantage point.

If any local readers have any info / anecdotes they want to feed in for use on the blog then Email stevieevans1 AT icloud.com

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....

Where sheep are sheep & men are....

Couple of hours at end of the day to check on some neglected Barnie roost sites on the Limestone.

Depending on aspect, Limestone nest sites can be unmistakable - years & years of splash stands like a white beacon, especially when under an overhang or otherwise sheltered from the elements.

Obvious white splash

Roost sites on the other hand can be much harder to locate - rock faces are littered with nooks & crannies - birds could be anywhere.........

NB: (A good tip when prospecting for any cavity dwelling owl (raptor or duck too) is to check for down feather caught in cobwebs.)

That was the case today, with only a few subtle clues on show.
A few small dots of splash didn't look like they were worth following up,

2 down feathers & tiny bit splash

but a check binoculars revealed 2 pale down feathers -  there you go.

Moving to the overgrown base of the slope, it took a while but I found a handful of large & quite recent BO pellets - almost there.

Barn Owl pellets - big & black

A scramble up through bramble & thorn got me 30' higher, where 1 very fresh pellet confirmed the roost as active.

looking down - NB telescope in top RHcorner.

From here, the otherwise hidden entrance to cavity held many more pellets & downy feathers.

roost cavity

Yes, a bit of a faff on, but far better than a stand & hope speculative visit as the light fades.

In fact id much rather do a bit detective work like this than hump a pair of ladders around checking nest boxes.

To end on a lighter note - I wasn't expecting to have this charge out at me :-

you know its a rough area when the sheep hide in caves !

Long & Shortage....

I can remember thinking what a stinker winter 2015 / 2016 was (after very poor Leo nest season) - I considered that to be the worst Owl winter i'd known....

Winter 2016 / 2017 has been worse.... The Worst....

I have never had many concerns about our resident Long-eareds - they were nailed on, Lots of pairs always there, no problem, guaranteed year round...

Not the case now after a series of poor breeding cycles...

So much so this season that I havnt daylight searched any more than 6 locations, with no more than a max of 3 birds... & switched to searching for Jack Snipe as the Bigg Luggs were proving so hard to come by.
For Example, a traditional location where ive had regular double fig roosts, including 18 in a single tree was blank this winter....
Things are picking up & pairs are beginning to call & display - though its obvious some sites are sadly vacant - the populations is certainly at a 20 year low - but, hopefully not for long...

Owl snippets

Highlights on This week:-
Located 2 trees a mile apart, both showing signs of occupancy by BO, which isn't currently a known territory.
LO bolting into Barnie box when Buzzard landed in the same tree.
Single afternoon visit in passing, saw LO SEO & LEO all viewed from public footpaths at Ye Olde Meadowlands of Raynton.
Opportunistic TO dining on Snipe- more on this when I can upload pics.
Bigg Luggs 'singing' at 2 sites this week.
Unusual find in open country was a regular TO hunting perch, half a dozen pellets under 1 tree, way to small to offer any scope for roosting.

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/

2015. All 5 NYD.

New Years morning, in position in good time. As the night began to slip away, a Hunting Barn Owl the very first bird I saw, the perfect start. Little Owls called sharply, with the top of a telegraph pole being a vantage point for one. To the SW, the sky was black & a short jog to the edge of the reserve was timed to perfection as the male Long-eared cruised into view, wing clapping as he approached his plantation.
"The 5" was certainly on the cards after a faultless start. However, no sooner had the Leo evaporated when the morning became darker as the sky first few spots of rain fell.
The East was brighter, this route taking me away from the Short-eareds... A Staked out Tawny in an ornamental Cypress was an easy addition - Owl number 4 seen well before 9AM.
The thought crossed my mind to double back for #5.... but these would wait.


In the end Short-eared was the final bird of the day - amazingly waiting a good ten mins after the light had gone before they set out to hunt.


A cracking day, 79 species & only the third time I've seen The 5 on a NYD.https://flic.kr/p/qnfnR6