RINGING BARN OWLS

I was very lucky today to be able to tag along with Tom from Kentish Stour Countryside Project and Jan, a bird ringer with over 30 years experience, and another lady, to watch local barn owls being ringed for record purposes.

We set off at 9.30 with Godmersham as our first port of call. We parked up by an old Sweet Chestnut tree and were rewarded with the sight of two barn owls flying off out of the tree as we approached. A search of a couple of potential nesting holes revealed that the owls had not nested there so we moved on to the next stop a few fields away, where a nest box had been sited in a tree in a field of very inquisitive sheep.

Jan went off ahead of us with a strange device called a dolly - basically a long pole with a piece of stuffed material on the end which she used to block the nest hole to prevent any owls inside from flying out.

The rest of us were then able to come closer. A ladder was put up against the tree and Jan climbed up and opened the hatch at the front of the nest to see if any owls were in there - unfortunately not. Just an old rook nest full of wool and twigs. Tom was tasked with the job of clearing this out and sprinkling in fresh sawdust for any future owl occupants to make themselves at home. We then went off to a second next box next to the river only to find that this, too, had been used by rooks and Tom had to clear it out again! Whilst we were there a rather extraordinary sight met our eyes - there was a lot of squawking and commotion going on further up the river and as we walked a bit closer to see what was happening a heron shot past shrieking, closely followed by a kestrel - never seen anything like it!





We then got back in the land rover and off to Bilting to a couple more nest boxes on sturdy poles. Again the procedure with the dolly was followed and when Jan opened the hatch it was discovered there were three barn owls in there! I was so excited, I can tell you! Each owl was taken out and carefully placed in a cloth bag and handed down to be placed on a rug on the grass.They then had to be weighed and this was recorded in a book. Once on the grass they were carefully unwrapped and the process of ringing them began. The owls were very sleepy (as you will see in the photos below!) and very well behaved - in fact, Jan said she hadn't seen such well-behaved owls! Two were females and there was one male (female barn owls are slightly darker than males). The females have speckles under their wings. Their wing measurements revealed their ages as approx 55, 58 and 59 days old. Whilst Tom was clearing out the box he found a freshly killed vole (their dinner tonight!) and, sadly, a decomposed owl. The following pictures I think, speak for themselves! After ringing they were then very carefully put back in the bags, taken up the ladder into their newly cleaned nest, courtesy of Tom. Ringing records help to monitor bran owl prevalence and where they travel and nest. One of these may well be found next year nesting a in a box further along the river or may well turn up elsewhere and its records can be looked up via the ring number. Barn owls are declining in numbers and it is so important for farmers to put up nest boxes and to create the right habitat for the voles and mice that they eat. Bad winters have a severe impact on barn owl numbers - they cannot hunt properly when it rains or snows and some end up starving to death. The cold weather can also affect the number of voles and mice available, which can also lead to starvation. Many owls (an estimated 3000 - 5000) are kiled every year by cars as they fly low alongside road verges looking for prey. If you would like to help barn owls there are many charities devoted to helping them which you can find in your local area or nationally via a Google search.

We did go to three more next boxes, one which involved rather a long walk wading through shoulder-high wheat! However, all 3 had broken hatches and were no owls had obviously nested in them.

All in all a very enjoyable morning!