Transition

With the autumn equinox came a notable change. The settled, warm weather we had come to expect has been replaced with something far less predictable. I have exchanged my shorts and thin cotton skirts for jeans and my cosily padded jacket now hangs by the door. Nature is also acting accordingly. The swallows and house martins have flown south. My only sightings are a fleeting glimpse of a straggler hunting the freshly turned fields, scouting for a final meal. As these birds depart I feel lucky to have a close encounter with a newly arrived short eared owl that chose to quarter the river close to the farm for a day or two. Soon my evenings will be punctuated with the sound of  the whooper and bewick swans flying from Scandinavia to winter in the fens. The sound of their joyful calling from the darkness is wonderful to witness.

Our barn owls do not have such drastic changes in their year but, they too, will have to accommodate some startling differences in the coming weeks. I am certain that the abundance of voles is coming to an end. As field after field is turned and cropped ready for next year and as the temperature steadily decreases the voles stop producing young in such prolific numbers. With the weather becoming less predictable the adult owls also need to hunt when they can rather than when they wish to. They are now showing well after dark which tells me they are hungry and so are their families.

I should, and indeed do, feel sympathetic to their plight but am also deeply thrilled, especially when they hear me whistle and fly through the farm lights to wait for me by the farm house. They haven't done this since May and I doubted I would see such behaviour this autumn. My heart sang as I recognised daddy owl perched in his usual position in the ash tree, glaring angrily at the other owls flying in eager anticipation. Some of these owls are new to me. I can tell by their uneasiness with me, but it does not stop them flying in, even when I have a visitor walking with me. They dare themselves to take from the platform, with wings held angel-like and talons outstretched and we are suitably impressed.

There is also a satisfaction in watching the female from the shed. She has a platform by the door and delights me each evening by appearing even as I walk across the farm. She eyes me warily before dropping down to peruse the food. To me it all looks the same but she chooses carefully before flying vertically upwards and diving deftly through the door gap. If I wait I can see her do this time and time again, glaring at me each time, until the platform is empty. The pair with the older brood on the dutch barn frame feed their family barely glancing in her direction. If the shed female has paired with our male he is not supporting her. I have yet to see a second bird take food in for this family and if she is rearing them on her own she will need as much help as she can get.

There is one bird who is not helping but hindering her. Each night, without fail, it flies into her platform as soon as I leave it and before she appears. Without pausing it takes food and flies off into the field. I have no idea where it is going but I am reminded of Mr Swoopy who often raided the farm in previous years to take food back across our fields to the south. Perhaps last night it came back after I had left. I watched two birds spar in the shed lights long after I had left the yard and I suspected this individual was feeling the wrath of daddy owl. I secretly admire this bird's bravado and resolve to defrost a couple more chicks each evening.

With the warmer weather fading the youngsters in the dutch barn box have become more reticent but they are also learning to stay well hidden and curb their curiosity.I begin to anticipate their imminent fledging but am still surprised to see a moon-like face peering at me from the straw on Thursday night. It is quite a distance from the box across to the straw stack and I approach the area in trepidation the following morning yet all appears well and I assume the owlet has returned to the box. However for the past two nights I have seen it again. I know the parents should feed fledglings but still I leave food in the straw. Whether it is the same owl or whether it is a different character exploring its immediate surroundings, whether it returns to the box or whether it roosts in the straw I cannot tell but I hope its story continues to be a happy one.Their transition from helpless owlets to fully fledged adults  has some serious challenges.

Autumn 2019 nest box checks

I have been disproportionately sad., in fact pathetically so. Every evening as I strode purposefully down to the farm I was reminded that the beehive brood had perished,  that is if they had even hatched at all. With the death of their mother it meant just one pair on the farm for the foreseeable future. My feelings were compounded by the lack of owls showing and I hungrily held on to the few sightings I had as Autumn mists and marmalade sunsets replaced the lengthy summer days.

Suddenly, as if someone had opened a cage into the indigo skyscape of the fens, the owls appeared. Paddy suggested this sudden change could be linked to a crash in the vole numbers. Although I continued to feed at dusk, a routine imperative to their nocturnal wanderings, their behaviour changed almost overnight. They were once again waiting for me. Perched on a shed apex, flying sideways from the straw, peering awkwardly from the roof struts and sitting bolt upright on the horizontals of the ash tree. Despite my pessimism I was not as bereft as I had allowed myself to believe.

                                                                What a find!!

There was something more. With their urgency to reach the food they were taking it away before I had rounded the dutch barn which was now heaving with the harvest of hay and straw. Most evenings I had to stand motionless as owls flew back and forth, hastily clearing the platforms clean in just minutes. Often they would see me and stare sternly at me before continuing, too intent to worry about my presence. But it was where they took the food that surprised me most of all. Yes, owls continued to relay food up to the youngsters I knew about in the dutch barn east box and their clattering and hissing reassured me they were healthy and thriving. It was the owls that I saw taking food into the shed that surprised me. I had assumed the female that turned the kestrels youngsters out of their nest box in July was from the shed and looking for a second nest site for her next brood. This activity seemed to point to a second brood also being fed in this first nest box the owls used for first broods in June.

I watched, captivated. Perhaps the first brood had returned when food became scarce yet my observations told me these were adult birds and the amount of food they offered into the shed was substantial. I was lost as to what was going on so when I heard that Paddy was coming to check the nest boxes I was delighted.

                                                            Look at this tummy!

He arrived mid morning and we headed straight down. On entering the shed a low, rhythmic hissing was evident. The nest box was after all occupied for a second time this season. Five white bundles of down were retrieved and taken to the truck to check. Two were too small to ring as this family was aged between twenty four and twelve days old but all of them had bulging tummies. It seemed as if they might need to unzip themselves or loosen a button somewhere to accommodate the large meals they had recently enjoyed. I was allowed to write notes whilst Paddy weighed and measured them. Barn owlets will lay still if placed on their backs. These two were laid in the truck and I was enthralled to see one clasp the others foot with its talons. It looked as if they were holding hands, comforting each other although I feel certain it was just grasping frantically at anything within its reach.

                                                                  Awh

Next we checked the east nest box where we knew the owlets were much bigger. They had taken to peering at me as I walked the dog close by and I had seen glimpses of almost fully formed wings. We watched from ground level as first one, then another were carefully extracted from the inspection hatch and placed in a cloth bag.  Five healthy owlets still sporting down on their heads and outer wings but with their rapidly growing feathers these beauties resembled the adult birds much more readily. These were aged between six and eight weeks.This brood of three males and two females didn't realise they were supposed to lay still on their backs whilst the check took place. They needed their eyes covering to keep them still and when we attempted to take this photo I was reminded of children in their first few days at school who aren't quite sure where they are expected to be and who would far rather follow their own initiative than comply.

                                                            Juggling owls
We checked the other two boxes which gave us no further clues. West nest box was empty and the beehive box had been taken by stock doves. I had hoped Paddy may glean clues from it but it seems our tragic female will keep her secrets, at least for now. We continued down the road to check two other sites less than half a mile from us. I will save these details for another blog as the visits were delightful. Needless to day Paddy was as happy as we were to find this abundance of next generation owls.

On returning to my house over tea and bacon butties we pondered dates. It was an impossibility that the beehive female who was our male birds original mate could have brooded either of these families before she died. There was definitely a third female on site.Whether she had her own mate or had been taken by our resident male as his third wifelet I cannot yet say. I will need to do some serious owl watching to try to make sense of such a conundrum. I will also need to watch closely as these young owls grow and become more active. I cannot say I am disappointed.

What I am all about

So this weeks blog could be another recount of my owlish encounters. With the wintry conditions clearing and Earth relaxing her shoulders and breathing a sigh of relief I have plenty to share with you. I could write how an owl waited on my house midweek, flying low and purposefully straight to the farm as I appeared. I could recall how the shed pair sat like little sentinels on a horizontal beam as my torchlight searched through the gap in the door; frozen in position hoping not to give up their whereabouts as I walked by. I could tell you about my visitors last night who flew so close in the drizzling darkness that I could almost feel their wing tips brush my face.

                       .                                       One of this week's visitors

But this week's blog is different. It has recently occurred to me that now is a good time to explain what I do. Why I feed the owls and how it works. Some of you who have been with me from the start will know how it all began and have become familiar with my sentiments over the years. Others may wonder who this eccentric middle-aged woman is who whistles owls in and defrosts day old chicks on the boiler. I felt the need to clarify who I am and what I am all about. Then in a moment of synchronicity I received a reply on Twitter from a gentleman urging me to "leave them be" concerned I was doing more harm than good. I didn't reply, respecting his different view of things but his comments were timely and this week's blog began forming in my mind.

I began feeding the owls in November 2012 when our resident pair of Barn Owls produced two owlets late in the year. Paddy, who rings our owls, was not averse to me feeding them as we seriously doubted they would survive. Many would say that this is nature, sometimes cruel and that we shouldn't interfere. My answer to this is that we already have. We have polluted and destroyed habitats, we have affected the climate. Our interference is abundant. A little recompense is, in my mind, long overdue. Some people in a nearby village were already feeding their resident owls and had urged me to do the same. With more than a little reservation I began to climb the straw stack every night and throw day old chicks close to the nest box for the adults to find. The youngsters fledged and I haven't looked back.

Since I have been feeding them the Barn Owl Trust has amended its advice regarding feeding to say that supplementary feeding can be carried out in harsh times and withdrawn gradually when no longer required. I never stop feeding entirely but the food I put out is just that; supplementary. They are not wholly dependent on me and in times of plenty they leave the food I put out. I am so used to their habits that I now recognise when to decrease supplies and when leaving more will be beneficial. I found a pellet in the straw stack this week which clearly shows they eat other prey apart from the food I leave. I liken my feeding the owls to others feeding the birds in their garden. At one time this was viewed with caution and I remember RSPB advice telling us not to feed birds during the breeding season. Now this is seen as hugely beneficial and many people supplement the diet of their garden birds. We delight at photos of Robins taking food from hands. Others feed Hedgehogs, Badgers, even Foxes. Barn Owls are more unusual but no less needy.

                                                    Summer 2017 and a great nest site.

So from a wary, reticent start to the benefits. We now have three feeding stations and five nest sites within the farm yard. Two pairs nest side by side in the farm and other birds fly in for food. In the years 2006 to 2011 we produced eleven owlets on the farm. From 2012, when feeding began, to 2017 our farm fledged forty nine. These figures even surprised me!! This does not include the unknown broods from the chimney. The two pairs live amicably along side each other because of the abundance of food. They build up their laying weight earlier and produce their first brood a few weeks sooner meaning there is plenty of time for a second brood. Second broods fledgling earlier mean the weather is usually better and mortality in the youngsters is less likely. Because there is food the adults are less hasty to send off the youngsters to disperse and they have a safe site to over winter on before finding their own territories. We live in prime Barn Owl habitat with plenty of tussocky grass, well away from main roads. Our owlets have been recaptured as adults at farms locally with their own owlets in subsequent years. It is also notable that farms adjacent to ours that didn't have Barn Owls on site previously now have them. What is there not to praise about these figures?

                                                                      Free for all.

What began as a venture to save two little owlets has become, for me, a little citizen science project. I am privy to their habits, their courtships and their owlet rearing exploits. I have seen owlets play like kittens and watched them fledge into the truly amazing birds that they are. The vocalisations I have listened to, when I can hear them, are varied and listening to them over the years I am able to differentiate between some of these sounds. For example I can now tell when they are screeching at me or when it is aimed at another owl. I have delighted in their successes, such as the summer of 2014 when eleven owlets fledged together and the farm was alive with owls. I have felt the tragedies that have unfolded too such as the loss of our adult male in 2015. Each evening brings something new and I am learning all the time. For the last two years we have been part of the BTO coloured ring scheme and it is fascinating to see who is still on the farm and when the youngsters leave the natal nest site. Even the absence of coloured rings, as we have at the moment, is telling. My blogs, which I enjoy writing, form a record of what is happening.

                                                    Coloured rings showing nicely

My photos are part of this.  I don't bait the owls to fly in simply for a photo. They are flying in for food. My camera is simply not good enough to get me an award winning photos even if this was my aim. These photos are great however, for sharing with like minded people. They also give me lots of clues as to who is visiting; more jigsaw pieces to add to the story.I have read all about owls and flash photography and am always mindful of any possible effects. I take photos occasionally on still nights standing a sensible distance away at just one feeding platform. I always make sure the owls see the camera flash before they fly in. They are prepared but fly in anyway and I have never seen the flash affect their ability to fly and take the food. Nonetheless I only stay a couple of minutes. Any owls that are wary can fly in when I have left. They are so used to me they know the routine and appear totally unfazed by me. Anyone who has read my blog before will be left in no doubt that the bird always comes first.

                                                          2014 tumbler safely returned.

Phew feels like a bit of a lecture and I hope you are still with me on this one. Normal service will be resumed next week as we tumble into Spring. Hopefully the owls will continue to give me some more fantastic fly pasts to share with you.