Magical.

 The Barn Owl's fledging has been memorable and magical this year. It is my thirteenth  summer of watching the owls that I have helped to feed take those first, tentative fights from their nest boxes yet it never ceases to amaze me. Every year follows similar patterns yet every year I see something new. I don't think I'll ever tire of watching these beauties.

I first realised the owlets from east nest box were ready to fly when I saw those familiar white droppings all on the grass under the nest box. This tells me that the youngsters are venturing from the nest box itself and sitting on the porch. Often at nightfall and even in the mornings I could hear them scuttling about and was surprised to see a fully developed wing on one of them as it bustled back into the nest box. The other clue that fledging is imminent is when the parents go quiet. I suppose they don't want to draw any attention to the nest site itself at such a precarious time but by now, I read this as a sign to watch ever more closely.

What surprised me this year was the date at which they fledged. The first owlet could be seen out on the roof struts close to the box on the 25th May. According to the Barn Owl Trust, it takes 32 days for the egg to hatch and 63 days before the owlet is fully feathered, 95 days in total which means this pair laid their first egg on the 18th February. This is a good two weeks earlier than usual and undoubtedly down to the warm spring. This darker female was also very keen for food and seemed a confident mother, the sort who might take a chance and throw caution to the wind and her keenness seemed to have paid off.

By the 30th of May, one of the owlets had made it over to the straw stack in the field and I watched entranced as it sat blinking and bobbing at the strange new world around it. Within a few days I saw all three owlets , now fully feathered and flying short distances around the straw stack. I'll not forget creeping down with my camera only to realise they were all three staring indignantly at me from the straw and I had to crawl away in the most undignified manner in order not to disturb them. I then found that I didn't need to walk down to the farm as I could watch them leave the nest box and stretch their wings before flying round the dutch barn from my utility window, Its taken a long time to wash the dog and cat dishes over the past month as I stop and stare at the Barn Owl antics.

I have watched them since, both morning and evening as they grow in confidence and glide about the farm yard. Two girls and a boy, they still perch together for comfort and enjoy sitting under the foliage of the bordering trees. At feeding time they fly around me unsure whether to screech and send me off or hiss for food. I am a confusion of contradictions for them but a welcome sight nonetheless. As for the parents, well the dark female has totally disappeared, leaving her growing youngsters to feed for themselves, and a male is hunting every evening close to the beehive box.I suspect she is already sitting on a second brood. If ever there was a year where our owls produced three broods in a year this year has to be the one.

Meanwhile the pair in the combine shed have stuck far more rigidly to the usual plan. They were still taking food in to their youngsters during early June and as no one goes in there, this brood fledged at the usual time in total privacy. All I do is offer my phone camera up to the hole in the door and record what I can see. It showed me three owlets with a parent bird keeping a close watch upon them. One evening last week I stood beside the shed and heard a scuffling. A young owl was finding its way out to the back doors of the shed to begin its hunt. We were no more than a couple of metres apart when our eyes met through the wooden slats as it prepared to fly. This was my closest encounter with this brood. By mid June these owlets joined the east nest box youngsters and the sky was alive with owls at feeding time. It really is a tremendous sight to watch as the owls fill the darkening expanse as they circle and weave. 

As I walk  tonight, avoiding the grass field now to give them space, I see the Little Owl giving me a hard stare as he wills me along, I notice three, possibly four young Kestrels, whose fledging is a whole blog of its own, and I watch owls flying across the willowing grasses, honing their hunting skills and growing in both strength and confidence. It is beyond satisfying to know I have played my part in their success so far and I know how lucky I have been to have had that opportunity.