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Thread: Two owlets :-)

  1. #1
    Master
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    Two owlets :-)

    Super cute :-)



    We've had a barn owl box up for ten years now and every year we get a pair breeding in it.

    This is the first year we've been able to spot the youngsters.... Spotted last week doing practice flights across the field.

  2. #2
    Master jukeboxs's Avatar
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    Lovely! Thanks for sharing.

    [All we have are Magpie chicks in our garden - not anywhere near so cute or impressive, but interesting to watch all the same.]

  3. #3
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
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    Great picture, always a treat to see owls.
    Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.

  4. #4
    Master j0hnbarker's Avatar
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    Lovely picture! Luck you.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by jukeboxs View Post
    Lovely! Thanks for sharing.

    [All we have are Magpie chicks in our garden - not anywhere near so cute or impressive, but interesting to watch all the same.]
    SWMBO has been doing guard duty on the owl box this year. Despite Chris Packhams' consternations we've frequently had issues where the local corvids have been dive bombing the father owl when he's been out in the daytime trying to catch food. e.g. a couple of times he's dropped the prey when returning to the box because of harassment by magpies etc... Often SWMBO has run out of the house and down the field trying to scare them away. At the moment we have a family of seven magpies creating a nuisance :-(

  6. #6
    Master Mouse's Avatar
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    Great to see that picture. They are such amazing birds. We have one somewhere local and occasionally get to see it hunting over nearby fields. It's stunning to watch. Mesmerising tbh

  7. #7
    Master Skier's Avatar
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    Fantastic picture and seeing them successfully fledge must be very satisfying.

  8. #8
    Grand Master Neil.C's Avatar
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    Wonderful pic.

    It must be very satisfying to help those beautiful birds.
    Cheers,
    Neil.

    My Speedmaster website:

    http://www.freewebs.com/neil271052

  9. #9
    Grand Master number2's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by solwisesteve View Post
    Super cute :-)

    Wow,, many thanks for posting.
    "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

    'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil.C View Post
    Wonderful pic.

    It must be very satisfying to help those beautiful birds.
    Yes we're like proud parents :-)

    Our house is for sale and I'm really worried what the new owners will do re. the field and the owls. At the moment the field isn't used so it's basically all for the owls. If the new people start using it, for example, as a quad bike play area then the owls will go. Ditto looking after the box. You have to check it for repair and a couple of years ago we had to replace it due to the old one falling apart. Will the new people continue with this?

    Barn owls are in decline because their feeding grounds and nesting sites are diminishing. They like stubbly fields... i.e. grazing land. Too much of the land is getting built on or turned into fields of crops. It's all a bit sad really :-(

  11. #11
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    Great picture, thanks for posting.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by solwisesteve View Post
    Yes we're like proud parents :-)

    Our house is for sale and I'm really worried what the new owners will do re. the field and the owls. At the moment the field isn't used so it's basically all for the owls. If the new people start using it, for example, as a quad bike play area then the owls will go. Ditto looking after the box. You have to check it for repair and a couple of years ago we had to replace it due to the old one falling apart. Will the new people continue with this?

    Barn owls are in decline because their feeding grounds and nesting sites are diminishing. They like stubbly fields... i.e. grazing land. Too much of the land is getting built on or turned into fields of crops. It's all a bit sad really :-(
    I wouldn’t worry too much, they’re pretty resilient and intelligent animals, if they don’t like somewhere they’ll be offski.

    Regarding their particular preferred habitat, they need voles/mice, and if that happens to be stubbly fields then happy days.

    Round here in Lincs, the owl population is unbreakably linked to the vole/mouse population, if the food does well then the owls do too.

    Owls are harassed by all sorts of other birds, I’ve sat and watched Kestrels snatching prey the owls were carrying back to the nest. I guess everything has to eat!

    Beautiful picture by the way!

  13. #13

    Hello

    Superb!

  14. #14
    Grand Master Onelasttime's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by solwisesteve View Post

    Barn owls are in decline because their feeding grounds and nesting sites are diminishing. They like stubbly fields... i.e. grazing land.

    Too much of the land is getting built on or turned into fields of crops. It's all a bit sad really :-(

    Quote Originally Posted by solwisesteve View Post
    Before it gets banned, go on line and get a gallon of full strength Glyphosate and make it up really strong. I put about an inch of the glysophate in the bottom of a 1l spray bottle and then fill up with water. Spray. Wait 2 weeks and should be dead. Repeat regularly. I have a permanent spray bottle made up and easy to hand so if I'm in the drive or garden with a few mins spare (e.g. waiting for SWMBO to stop mucking about and come to the car if we're going out) I'll grab the spray and spend a couple of mins going round. If you keep at it then you only have to do this every couple of weeks.
    What am I missing here?

  15. #15
    Grand Master number2's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Onelasttime View Post
    What am I missing here?
    Apparently Attenborough suffers the same conflicts,,
    Last edited by number2; 9th July 2019 at 19:56.
    "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

    'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.

  16. #16
    Master Kirk280's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oldoakknives View Post
    Great picture, always a treat to see owls.
    Worth dropping an Owl1 a PM...he might send you a selfie.

  17. #17
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    Great picture, we have a couple of Barn Owls where we live. Always see one of them when I'm coming home off a night shift in the summer months flying low across the fields, can't beat it👍

  18. #18
    Master Top Cat's Avatar
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    Fab picture. I would love them in my garden!

  19. #19
    Thanks for sharing the amazing picture, we have barn owls in the field next door and my sons love trying to spot them at dusk. Amazing birds that need some help!

  20. #20
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    Gorgeous. I know we have some around where we live as I can hear them at night. Not seen them though.

  21. #21
    Grand Master number2's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sprite1275 View Post
    Gorgeous. I know we have some around where we live as I can hear them at night. Not seen them though.
    Probably Tawny owls, male and female calling to each other.
    "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

    'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.

  22. #22
    I met up with an old owl friend of mine yesterday, told me he was getting married. I said ' you twit, to who?.....sorry terrible I know..

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Onelasttime View Post
    What am I missing here?
    Spraying weed killer using a 1l hand bottle onto a few weeds coming through the driveway hardly compairs to dowsing a whole field!

  24. #24
    Grand Master Onelasttime's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by solwisesteve View Post
    Spraying weed killer using a 1l hand bottle onto a few weeds coming through the driveway hardly compairs to dowsing a whole field!
    It's reconciling the use of a known environmental contaminant while mourning the loss of the owls' natural habitat that I'm struggling with. Quantity of contaminant is irrelevant.

    "Make it up really strong"

  25. #25
    Master
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    and this is 'dad' sat on his porch.

    Late evening from quite some distance so as to not disturb him :-)


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