Summer 2025 will be remembered for the long, sunny days, and , here in the Fens at least, the lack of rainfall. From early March onward, we had the pleasure of clear blue skies and warmer than usual temperatures. As I write this in October, we continue to have dry, settled weather with just a few brief breaks in the sunshine to provide some much needed moisture. It has been an exceptional year for holidaymakers but not so good for Barn Owls.
2024 was a glut year for Field Voles. These rodents which are the main food source for Barn Owls seem to be numerous in some years but this is often followed by a poor year and so 2025 meant lean pickings for owls. When you factor in the poor weather which meant less green shoots of grass for the voles to eat on it meant a real lack of food for Barn Owls early on in the year. I was first made aware of this when Charles kindly messaged me to say his preliminary checks of boxes in the area showed no signs of owls laying eggs or brooding young. I was grateful for this information as I was then able to increase the feeding at a time when I would usually decrease it.
Our pairs reared young nonetheless, encouraged by the supplementary feeding. I realised in May that the very dark female had reared young in west nest box and our older female had chosen the chimney on the farm house for her brood. The west nest box family consisted of three owlets all females and very dark like their mother. I watched these little beauties as they ventured out of the nest box and wobbled their heads from side to side trying to make sense of their surroundings. For just a few short days they were unafraid of me and I dared to fire off a few photographs as I walked Max. No matter how many broods we rear I always feel immensely privileged to be watching them as they appear with their feathery down replaced by the most beautiful plumage and wings.
The chimney brood were too high up to properly observe but I watched carefully when the west box owlets fledged for similar activity upon the farmhouse roof. I saw two young males cavorting about but otherwise this brood fledged quietly under the cover of darkness. For a while they confused me by hissing noisily from east nest box as I approached it I suppose it was a big ask to get back up onto the house roof and why go to the effort when there is an empty nest box close by.
It would seem we had a successful early season but sadly it wasn't all positive news. One of the beautiful dark females somehow got stuck in grain store of the combine. How she managed this we are all baffled by. Perhaps she saw the pipe that led to it and dived inside but was unable to get back out but when she was discovered by the farmers we thought she was ok as she raced into a straw gap and I confidently threw food in to her thinking this was the end of things. Sadly, we found a dead owl here a couple of days later. It seems she was too weak to make it and I was cross with myself for not being more proactive. Our second casualty was most likely one of the chimney owlets. I always worry about how vulnerable they are as they sit in the long grass and it would appear that for one, its fledging was short lived. I just found a wing, close to the house and assume it was predated soon after leaving the nest site. I hate losing the owlets, especially when I have watched how much hard work has gone into rearing them but I am becoming more accustomed to the everyday tragedies that unfold in the natural world.
There was a turn of fortune later in the year for Barn Owls across the country as Field Vole numbers increased. I will blog about our second broods very soon.
