Barn Owl Diary (with photos)

[JeffH]

Barn Owl Diary (with photos) – 2nd February 2008

Regular followers of my ‘Kingfisher Diary (with photos)’ thread – Kingfisher Diary (with photos) – may recall that in one of my updates to that thread last November I mentioned the possibility of trying to do a similar thing with a pair of locally nesting Barn Owls this year.

For those who didn’t see/don’t remember that update and to give you a bit of background, here’s what I said at the time –

“Another bit of good news (for me at least) is that as a result of growing local interest in my Kingfisher monitoring/photographs, a few months ago one of our local farmers and his wife invited me to observe and photograph a family of Barn Owls on their land. Here again, due to the personal/family issues which have dominated my life over recent months (and the fact that I didn’t have the necessary Schedule 1 licence for these birds), I wasn’t able to take up this opportunity until the chicks had fledged and had become almost totally independent of the parent birds. However, once the young birds had been flying for almost 4 weeks and had begun hunting for themselves I did spend several evenings at the site and managed to get some half-decent shots, some of which I’ll post in the Gallery shortly. However, my Schedule 1 licence application for next year is in the post so maybe a ‘Barn Owl Diary (with photos)’ will be my next project?”

Well, I’m absolutely delighted to be able to report that my Schedule 1 Licence for Barn Owls has recently come through – my thanks once again to the Licensing staff at Natural England for their help – and I’m now the grateful owner of a dual licence authorising me to photograph both our local nesting Kingfishers and the Barn Owls which, hopefully, will both nest again this year just a few hundred metres from my house.

Now I realise that I may be tempting fate by starting this diary thread so early and before the birds have even paired up in the nest site area for this year’s breeding season, but I thought it might be useful to ‘set the scene’ as it were and to give you all some of the background information before the action starts in a few weeks time.

Incidentally, although many Barn Owls mate for life they don’t always roost together throughout the year, but by early March established breeding pairs will usually be roosting together at or near their chosen nest site for the coming breeding season. After a few weeks of courtship behaviour with lots of chasing around, screeching at each other and with the male presenting food to the female (to build up her energy and strength for task ahead), actual egg-laying typically begins in April or May.

So about the nest site area itself – it’s about a ¼ mile from my home on a fairly typical County Council owned small arable farm here in rural Cambridgeshire which, sadly and like our local Kingfisher nest site, is now under serious and fairly imminent threat of large-scale development. Early last year the farmer (who I’ve known for more than 20 years and whose sons were good childhood friends of my own son) erected 3 Barn Owl nestboxes around the farm. He built them himself to a design recommended by the Barn Owl Conservation Network (BOCN) – BOCN- The Website of the Barn Owl Conservation Network (a project of the Hawk and Owl Trust – Home) - and one of the BOCN’s local volunteers advised on the selection of suitable sites for the boxes.

By March a pair had taken up residence in one of the boxes and they went on to raise a family of 4 youngsters, all of which successfully fledged last July having been ringed in the nest by the BOCN’s BTO licensed ringer.

Here are 3 photographs showing the nestboxes - the 1st is the one used last year and you’ll see it’s on a field edge but with quite a large area of rough grassland by the side. The 2nd is similarly located with a good area of rough grassland beside it and the 3rd has been placed right on the edge of a small area of woodland, overlooking a cropped field but with lots of rough grassland and field ditches/tracks very near.







Since last year’s young fledged little has been seen of the adult birds near to the nest site, but this is not really surprising as although adult Barn Owls are highly sedentary birds their hunting range during winter may be up to about 2 miles whereas it’s often as little as a ½ mile during the breeding season.

I had a walk around the area a couple of weeks ago and identified several suitable positions for on-site hides to be placed. The plan is to wait for the birds to return and for them select a nestbox (probably the same one as last year) and then to allow them sufficient time to settle in before erecting a hide near to their chosen box. This on-site hide will be of a similar design to that used at our local Kingfisher nest site (where it worked a treat) and will be erected over a period of several days so as to allow the birds to gradually get used to its presence. I shall also again be using my portable dome hide (from Kevin Keatley at Wildlife Watching Supplies) as when necessary.

For those who are interested in the technical stuff and before anyone asks, all my photographs will be taken with my Canon EOS30D and my Canon EF
100 – 400 f4.5-5.6L IS USM lens which I certainly don’t claim to be the ‘best’ camera/lens combination but it’s the one I’ve got and it has served me very well with our local Kingfishers. However, as most of my observations and photography of the Owls will be during the early evening when light conditions will not be at their best, I may well expand my lens stock by adding an EF 70 – 200 f2.8L IS USM.

Hopefully, it will be rather easier to get good flight shots of the much larger and slower-flying Owls as they approach/leave the nest area than has so far proved to be the case with the Kingfishers

I had contemplated the use of flash with an extender and although flash photography of Owls didn’t appear to raise any concerns during the days of Eric Hosking (one of my bird photographer heroes and renowned for his work with Owls), the current thinking on the subject seems to be that flash should not be used for wild nocturnal birds such as Owls and Nightjars. This is not for fear of causing the birds any permanent eyesight problems but flash does apparently disrupt their ‘dark adaptation’ and can seriously impair their hunting ability for up to an hour – during the short nights of summer and with young mouths to feed, such disruption could be disastrous and, as ever, the welfare of the birds must come first and so I have completely discounted the idea.

Turning to the format of this Diary, as my Kingfisher Diary thread proved so popular (being one of WAB’s most viewed British Birds forum threads ever, with more than 7,000 views and 180 replies – thank you all for your interest and encouragement ), I had in mind to follow the same pattern here with regular updates on the progress of the birds accompanied with photographs. However, constructive criticism is always welcome and as I’m not easily offended please feel free to put forward your suggestions, ideas and comments as to how the Diary might be improved and I’ll do my best to take them on board.

Finally and just to get some photos of the subject matter into the thread, here’s a couple of my favourite shots from last summer – I do hope I can get many more reasonable quality shots to share with you during the coming months, particularly of the birds during their courtship behaviour and breeding activities and flying in with prey, etc, so please do keep your fingers crossed that they actually turn up or this could be one of the shortest diary threads ever





Jeff

[aeshna5]

Fantastic photos- I especially love the two together. Let's hope they behave well for you + we see many more fine shots!

[Bub-les]

Here's me booking my place! I'm looking forward to it already. Hope it all works out fine.

[rlchew]

Congratulations Jeff on getting your Schedule 1 Licence.

If your "Barn Owl diary" is only half as interesting as your "Kingfisher diary" it will still be an excellent and compulsive read.

I am sure it will become yet another "WAB best viewed".

Best of luck .... we are all waiting to hear and see what happens.

Richard

[denn]

great photos jeff, my all time favourite bird, i was lucky enough to hold a barn owl last week what a treat, looking forward to your diary.

[The Black Rabbit]

Lovely thread Jeff.
One of those nestboxes looks so cold and exposed!

Wonderful photographs too (as always!)

I'll read this thread with real interest this year...

Doug

[VinceS]

What a fantastic idea. Hope it goes as well as you have planned and I cannot wait to enjoy your diary. Best of luck.
Vince

[pressld2]

My fingers are firmly crossed for you Jeff. Your kingfisher thread is outstanding (for the words as well as the pictures) so I hope this year will be as good a year for barn owls as last year was. The pair that use the box on my local nature reserve succesfully fledged 10 chicks in two broods in 2007 after a big fat zero in 2006.

I managed one photo (nowhere near your standard) of an adult just about to exit the nest box...



This was taken on 29 July, long after the first brood had fledged and well before the second batch of eggs were laid so I hope I wasn't breaking the law by taking it without a schedule 1 license!

Which leads me on to a question... Having read in your kingfisher diary what you have to do to get a licence I realise that as things stand I wouldn't qualify for one. But I would be keen to get some better shots of wild barn owls and I know that they sometimes hunt by day when they have chicks to feed. Is there any guidance on how far away from the box I should stay? I mean, if I'm two or three fields away and spot one out hunting what's the position if I photograph it?

Like you, Jeff, I will put the welfare of the birds ahead of my photography every time so regardless of the legal position what should be my maximum approach?

Dave P.

[John]

Oh boy, am I looking forward to this. If it is only half as good as the Kingfisher thread (which it won't be of course) it will be great reading.

I can't think of many (if any) better threads in WAB than the Kingfisher diaries. I think WAB members are in for a treat and it will become compulsive reading, just like the Kingfisher thread has.

Thanks a million for starting this thread Jeff.

John

[bleeper]

I did not realise that you needed to have a license to photograph Barn Owls, although I knew you could not photograph nesting kingfishers without one. What should I do? I have a terrific opportunity to photograph barn owls that are currently on some land recently inherited by a relative. We are hoping that the one there may pair up. Does this mean I cannot photograph it?

[pressld2]

Hi Bleeper,

You need a licence to photograph any schedule 1 bird (which includes both kingfishers and barn owls and quite a few other species too) at or near the nest during the breeding season. "At the nest" is pretty clear and unambiguous but "near the nest" is a bit more subjective and open to interpretation, hence my question above.

Outside of the breeding season I don't think there are any restrictions (other than the moral one of not doing anything that would put the welfare of the birds at risk). Even during the breeding season you don't need a licence to photograph them away from the nest. Which brings us back to the question - how far away do you have to be before you're legally away?

Dave P.

[GME]

Brilliant - I'll look forward to reading this thread too. Lovely shots as well. Great stuff.

I was driving home from my mates at about midnight the other day when I saw a Barn Owl stood on a fence post at the side of the road near a field. I slowed down and parked up to get a closer look. It then took off and hovered no more than 10ft away from me where it was focused on some critter in the grass. It was a truly awe-inspiring experience. So quiet, beautiful and graceful. I wished I had my camera with me at the time as it flitted around for about 10 minutes without any care for me and was often almost in touching distance (though I tried to remain as well hid and inconspicuous as possible). A truly magnificent bird.

Keep up the good work Jeff

[Nicola Main]

I'm really looking forward to this Diary and I hope they behave for you Jeff excellent photos too.

[stephen p]

Brilliant stuff Jeff, this is going to be another cracking diary for the year.
Can't wait to see your work, if it's anything like the Kingfisher Diary it will be amazing.

I have recently been doing a lot of work trying to find out about Barn Owls and Little owls in my area, and on the weekend found a couple of Local Nesting Boxes. I need to get in touch with the Hawk and Owl Trust this week to get more info.

I may have to PM you about Licences for some advice if you dont mind.

Stephen

[JeffH]

aeshna5; Bub-les; Richard (richew); denn; Vince S; John; GME and Nicola - thank you all for your interest and for your kind words of encouragement. I just hope the birds turn up and enable me to live up to your expectations

Doug (Black Rabbit) - thank you also, and yes two of the nestboxes are very exposed - we're right on the edge of the fens here and it can get a wee bit breezy! It was also bitterly cold on the day I took the photos.

bleeper - as Dave (pressld2) has already confirmed, you certainly do need a Schedule 1 licence from Natural England to photograph Barn Owls 'at or near' the nest. If the one currently frequenting your relative's land does indeed pair up with another, then you will have to be very careful about photographing them if you are to avoid breaching the legislation. My advice would have to be that if you see a pair of them together on the land within the next month or two and in the absence of a licence, you should keep well away from the area for fear of disturbing them during the critical courtship phase and possibly also committing a criminal offence

Stephen P - thank you also and yes, please feel free to pm me about Licences, etc.

and finally Dave (pressld2) - thank you for your kind remarks. As to your question - essentially just how near is 'near' within the terms of the legislation? I've done a considerable amount of research on the point and could probably write quite a lengthy legal paper on the subject. However, as it's not my field of legal expertise my comments must not be regarded as legal advice.

As the term 'near' is not defined in the actual legislation then, under the normal rules on interpreting the law, the standard dictionary definition of the word applies. However, as 'near' is a relative term this doesn't really help much. For instance, I often say that I live 'near' Cambridge when in fact I live some 10 miles away. On the other hand, if one tells a small child not to go 'near' a dog that might mean staying just a few feet away

There have been relatively few prosecutions for disturbance offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and apparently none of the cases brought before the courts have involved situations in which the issue of whether or not the defendant was 'near' was in dispute - it was sufficiently clear cut to be beyond doubt. Consequently, there is no judicial guidance on the point.

This being so, the question remains open to interpretation in any particular case or situation, though obviously if a case goes to court it will be the court's decision that counts!

I have discussed the matter informally with a member of the RSPB's Investigations Dept and they take the view (rightly in my opinion) that one cannot lay down any set distance, as the potential range in which disturbance of a nesting bird may occur will vary widely depending on such factors as the habitat in which the nest is situated, the species concerned and even the individual characteristics of particular birds within the species.

So far as I have been able to establish the only guidance expressed in specific distances was issued by the Forestry Commission Scotland in their Guidance Note no. 32 of November 2006 - "Forest operations and birds in Scottish forests". This was issued to enable forestry workers to plan and carry out forestry operations in areas in which Schedule 1 species were known to nest or where nests were discovered during the course of operations. In the case of Barn Owls the minimum "safe working distance" to avoid disturbance was put at only 100 -250 metres, but it must be remembered that this applies to a forested area and, in any case, carries no legal weight.

The minimum distance in an open area with perhaps just a few trees and/or field hedges would obviously be much greater and although in your example you say 'two or three fields away' much would depend on the size of the fields
and the general habitat of the area.

In summary, it is impossible to give a simple answer to your question and must come down to common sense and what a reasonable person might do. However, I think that in theory and in the case of Barn Owls nesting in fairly open country it is quite possible that one could be found guilty of a disturbance offence if one's actions disturb a bird hunting even as far as several hundred metres away from the actual nestbox.

I know that's not terribly helpful Dave but I'm afraid it's the best I can come up with and I would certainly recommend that without a Licence you should keep well away from any occupied nestboxes and, of course, should also try to avoid disturbing any hunting Barn Owls whilst attempting to photograph them during the breeding season.

Jeff

[witham]

Great diary, I love Barn Owls, We regularly see one hunting along the drains etc in the fields at the back of where we live. When I was taking my dog for a walk on the bank of the river Witham about 4.30pm yesterday, I had just gone through a gate to get onto the bank when to my left I saw the Barn Owl hunting along the bank coming towards me, I froze and watched it out of the corner of my eye as it got nearer and nearer, it was concentating on hunting so much that it didn't see me until the last minute and came right infront of me only about 3 to 4 yards away, then glided across the river to the other side and continued it's quest for tea. I wished I had my camera with me, but then thought if I had I couldn't have moved to aim it or I would have frightened the owl before it came so close

[JeffH]

Thanks for your comments Witham.

What a nice sighting you had there , and you're absolutely right about Barns Owls often being seemingly oblivious to human presence whilst hunting.

Jeff

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by JeffH

I know that's not terribly helpful Dave but I'm afraid it's the best I can come up with

Well Jeff, considering that my question was basically "how long is a piece of string?" I would say that's a pretty fine answer!

I have decided that I will take a completely passive approach. By this I mean that I will not go anywhere near the nestbox but will continue to visit other parts of the reserve which is, after all, open to the public and crossed by several public footpaths including green chain walk and the Thames cycle path. If, while I'm there, a barn owl happens to fly within range of my camera then I will take photos. But I will not follow it nor attempt to get any closer to it. I will simply stay still and leave it entirely up to the bird what it choses to do.

The chances of seeing them are pretty slim. I was a regular visitor to the site last year while they were raising their 10 chicks and, apart from that one photo, I never caught so much as a glimpse of them.

So, no pressure Jeff, but I'm relying on you to bring a continuous stream of fantastic photos and detailed descriptions of your adventures through the coming year.

Dave P.

[Garden Carpet]

I saw a lovely barn owl sitting in a bush this evening on my way home. Didnt realise what it was till I had passed it. Had I stopped and watched him would I have been breaking the law?
jaki

[m1.carson]

Hi,

Wish we'd known about the schedule 1 and licence last year, my wife regularly saw a barn owl at dusk, then the local industrial units blocked up some of the air vents in the roof, she hasn't seen it since, maybe coincidence.

Max.

[witham]

There used to be another barn owl in our area which we saw regularly, it even used to come into our garden, then one day up on the river bank near us I found a dead one, I assumed it was that one as it stopped comming after that. A conservation group had been putting up large bird boxes at intervals along both sides of the bank and it was near one of them, fastened on the side of a building that houses a drainage pumping engine, at a place where we used to watch the owl swooping up from hunting along a big drain that runs parallel to the river, then across the strip of land inbetween to hunt on the bank. I had seen a Kestrel flying from the box and wondered if it pounced on the owl as it flew past, although one night there was a lot of bird noise, a horrible distress sound and the chuckling of alot of Magpies and I also wondered if they were the culprits, as I heard a story from a local character who used to come on our local radio that he had seen Magpies attacking an owl near where he lives.

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by pressld2

Well Jeff, considering that my question was basically "how long is a piece of string?" I would say that's a pretty fine answer! Dave P.

I did try Dave and if I may say so I think your intended approach is spot on. Oh and thanks for not putting any pressure on me

Garden Carpet - "Had I stopped and watched him would I have been breaking the law?" No, absolutely not Jaki - it's only an offence to disturb Barn Owls (and other Schedule 1 birds) whilst they're building a nest or whilst they're 'in, on, at or near a nest'. Clearly they will not yet be nesting at this time of year and so you could have stopped and watched your bird (and even disturbed it) to your heart's content and without doing anything illegal

m1.carson - that's a great shame Max and if you could have established that the Owl was actually nesting in the units, then blocking its access would have been an offence worth reporting to your local police force's Wildlife Liaison Officer.

witham - and that's another sad tale witham . It's also certainly true that Magpies often given Owls a hard time - a farmer friend of mine had a pair of Barn Owls nesting in a sort of attic right in the top of his turkey-rearing barn but one day he saw some Magpies mobbing one of the Owls and the Magpies subsequently raided the nest and destroyed the eggs

Jeff

[JeffH]

UPDATE (2nd March 2008)

Nothing major to report yet but things are certainly looking hopeful

Yesterday I called in at our local farm for some free range eggs and the farmer's wife told me that earlier this week she was walking by one of the Owl boxes (it's the one on the edge of the wood - the 3rd photo in my opening post) when she saw a white face appear at the opening. Later on she saw a Barn Owl quartering over the field that particular box looks out onto.

Of course it may just be a roosting bird but a promising sign none the less.

She also mentioned having seen a Little Owl several times on the edge of the wood. We know that Little Owls nested in the wood last year (and we think we know where) so I'm hopeful of getting some good shots of our smallest Owl as well.

Hopefully the Barn Owls will be pairing up over the next 2 - 3 weeks - I'll keep you posted.

Jeff

[rlchew]

Sounds promising Jeff .... please do keep us up todate with developments.

Richard

[stephen p]

Sounds good Jeff. Nice to have a local spy aswell Farmers know everything about the land around them it's great.

Keep us updated mate, it's sounding good.

Stephen