As I write this blog, we are struggling with our fifth heatwave of the summer where temperatures have been in the thirties for a good few days each time As for rainfall, we haven't had any measurable rainfall since the 23rd of June when we had all of 1 mm. It is now mid August.
Even the most sceptical among us are now beginning to acknowledge that we are seeing climate change unfolding before our eyes. To watch the footage of Dunwich Heath burning and to see the nightjars flying out of the flames was heart rending, and more recently, Holme Fen is now into its fifth day burning. I am enraged to read an article blaming rewilding for the spread of wildfires which is missing the point entirely. It is humankind that has polluted and plundered the natural world.
Surprisingly it seems to have been a good season for Barn Owls. Moor Farm ringed six healthy owlets in one brood and I continue to see owls hunting across the Fens close to us. There is obviously a glut of mice and voles for now, and the settled weather has made for easy hunting. I would anticipate that second broods will be numerous as the adults feel confident about the food source. I think what will be challenging is the inevitable deluge of wet weather that we surely have coming. Many young and inexperienced owls will find hunting difficult. Barn Owls are one of the species that find extreme weather tricky.
For our owls on the farm it has been a terrible year. As soon as our first brood fledged, I sadly found our adult female dead in an open barn close to the house. It would seem she had taken on poison as she had simply fallen from her roost. Soon after this, I walked down one morning to find owl feathers close to the nest box. There was no body but I felt sure that one of the youngsters had been predated, but I was reassured to see three other youngsters branching out from the nest box. One was dark like the female we had lost and two others perched close together on the roof struts. Sadly my delight was short lived. Following another spell of hot weather with temperatures well into the thirties, yet another owlet was found dead close to the nest box. As this one hadn't any obvious injuries and was well fed, I wonder if it succumbed to the intense heat. It was a terrible few days.
As usual with the summer broods the owlets quickly dispersed from the farm and the only sign that there were owls close was the territorial screeching as midsummer passed. Since June I have rarely seen an owl but I continued to leave food, on the shed roof where I knew the owls would find it should they need it. For the whole of July I never saw an owl but our adult male left me his moult feathers strewn across the yard each morning. Beautiful as they were, this made me sad as it meant that rearing owlets was complete for this year as male birds only moult when they have finished nesting.
Without any sightings. it was impossible to know what was going on with the owls. I was unsure whether we began the year with two pairs as usual or whether the male had taken on the feisty female who raised her young in east nest box and then sadly died, alongside our very old female. The last time I had seen her was in June when she would take food across to the beehive box. No sign of her since then could mean that she too has perished in what has already been an unfortunate year for our owls. She is a very special old lady, one I can recognise among all the others and one who I will be looking out for as summer continues.
As August arrived and I still didn't see any owls I began to fear the worst. I even wondered if any were flying in during the night or whether the crows were having a hearty breakfast of day old chicks at dawn. I hunted out my trail camera and positioned it facing the shed. Reassuringly the owls were not flying in until well after dark but there were plenty of them. One photo showed two owls together which was lovely to see.
Then something remarkable happened. For the past four evenings an owl has waited patiently in the dutch barn eaves at feeding time. Each evening it flies across the farm yard to wait for me to leave before flying up to west nest box with food. Is this our old female or possibly her mate taking supplies up to the box whilst she broods young owlets? The going backwards and forwards suggests this owl is feeding a family. I keep a sensible distance, watching in delight as the owl flies back and forth against the harvested fields. Perhaps our luck has turned at last.
