First Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2021….gotta be better surely?????
Snippet One:
Each November, I prepare the barn owl barn for the onset of winter weather knowing that heavy rain, high winds, dense fog, sleet and snow all pose huge challenges for the resident barn owls. These conditions make outdoor hunting close to impossible for this raptor. They detect their prey from the sound a small mammal makes as it moves through grassland vegetation. Rain, high winds, heavy fog etc. dampens the sounds emitted. Starvation is a common cause of death for this species in winter months.
The barn prepared with fresh straw hay scattered about, and feed hoppers cleaned and refilled, I then deployed the camera trap. Sure enough the pattern I have observed each year recurred - each night when outdoor conditions made hunting impossible, a pair of owls were detected using their barn. I had seen on numerous occasions the barn owls flying directly from their box to their barn - without deviation!
This year though an interesting twist…
This was the best image taken, but after verification (thanks as ever to Gareth Harris) it is a tawny owl not a barn owl. WOW! So the barn is now supporting two nocturnal raptors….both under pressure in lowland England. Closer attention will be given to images from now on….I wonder how frequently the tawny is using the barn?
Snippet Two:
For many years I have put meat, bones and carcasses out on the land. There is sound research evidence to show that meat discards and rotting mammals have hugely beneficial effects, for a range of fauna. They (rotting mammals) are after all, a key feature of wild ecosystems - think wilderness areas of sub-Saharan Africa or the Americas. I have records of many different species feeding on the discards - robin, buzzard, jay, blackbird, crow, badger…..
Inspired by Derek Gow, last week I built & deployed this sky table. Avian species now have a chance to forage without mammals interrupting. I will post pics of who visits in due course….
