The Barn Owls of BSW!!

A bit of background information.

 I work for BSW Building Services, although we  are more of a heating firm really, we do a lot of air source Heat Pumps both for Councils and Private companies. We are based in Scaynes Hill surrounded by a vineyard and open countryside and our site has three small areas of Ancient Woodland on it. We have recently had a visit from the Woodland Trust, surveying the Ancient Woodland fragments and apart from a few Rhododendrons it was deemed to be in reasonably good health!! 

Check us out at the link below if you are looking to install a Heat Pump

BSW Renewables

 So as a Birder it's a very pleasant place to work, The site is pretty good for birds, with all the species you would expect to see in West Sussex, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Green Woodpeckers, Nuthatch,  Tree Creepers, Marsh Tit, Bullfinch, as well as the commoner species, Spring sees singing Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and the occasional Whitethroat, Winter sees the influx of Redwings, Fieldfares, while Song Thrushes, Mistle thrushes and Blackbirds are present for most of the year. Goldcrest and Firecrest are seen fairly regularly, Kestrels, Sparrowhawk, Buzzards and the odd Red Kite frequent the area. I have also seen Waxwings, White Stork, Hobby, Peregrine, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Brambling on or from the site. There are also many insect species notably Butterflies, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Painted Lady and Speckled Wood as well as the commoner Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns and Ringlets, several Blue Butterflies and Whites as well . Also good numbers of Dragonflies and Damselflies etc etc. We are also quite proud of our small colony of Common Spotted Orchids which appear every year on the edge of the carpark.  Obviously all only seen on my lunchbreak as I work far to hard to notice anything during work hours😲!!

When the buildings were built, with great foresight a Barn Owl box was built into the eaves of one!! I was not confident it would get much use as it is in a fairly heavy foot traffic area and also although a nice area  I didn't think there was much Barn Owl appropriate habitat in the vicinity,(shows what I know!!😀) We have regular Tawny Owls in the woods around the site which with the bits of woodland seemed more likely!! Indeed I have worked here for over 8 years and the only thing to happen in the box was a magnificent Hornets nest a couple of years ago!! Many of the other staff members were not that keen on that, but I managed to negotiate a stay of execution and no one was stung and the Hornets didn't return the next year, though I still see the occasional one around the site

The Hornets nest!!

So during Lockdown with many staff Furloughed, I bravely toiled on alone, single-handedly keeping the company afloat, the site was largely deserted, except for me bravely toiling😁, anyway you get the picture it was very quiet in the yard!!(it should be noted that there were a few other staff members toiling away single handed as well, but they're  not important in the context of the story😀)  During the winter, I noticed that a Barn Owl was using the box to roost, this wasn't through awesome fieldcraft or sixth sense, this was due to the entrance of the box being directly above the staff room and when I opened the staff room door the bird flew out!! This happened a couple of times, no matter how quiet I tried to enter the bird would leave, it should be noted that I cut all non-essential visits and would imagine it only happened about 4 times, on the last occasion 2 birds flew out!! Anyway as time passed there were no more sightings and I assumed the birds had departed and found a new place for their winter quarters!! So no-one was more surprised than me when Tom and Emma doing a routine check of the box this summer found 6 eggs in it!!! It was fairly late in the year though and we were unsure whether this was an ongoing attempt or an abandoned nest, anyway it was quickly shut up and we waited to see what would happen!! A few weeks later it became obvious, from the screeching and noises coming from the box that the eggs had hatched Hurrah!!!🏆

So on the 9th of September, Tim, from the Barn Owl Trust and Emma who found the Eggs came to the site to ring the chicks, a lucky few staff members were allowed to observe and help with the ringing under the strict supervision of Tim who has all the appropriate licences and with strict instructions to be as quiet as possible to keep the stress levels of the Owls to a minimum . ( It should be stated at this point that some of those present disgraced themselves with loud oohing and ahhing and making inappropriate comments such "so cute", "Ahhhh look at it, so fluffy" etc but I apologised and was allowed to stay😀 although it wasn't just me!!) 

Noises from the box had diminished a bit recently since they were first heard, so we were a little apprehensive as to what we would find when the box was opened, Tim climbed up his extremely rickety stepladder, (I am a fully qualified Ladder inspector so pointed out the faults to him ,hopefully he has followed my advice and bought a new one!)  opened the hatch on the Box and peered inside, five chicks were present, Hurrah!!! What a relief😁

After a bit of hassle trying to reach the Owlets, the box is quite deep and they were all huddled right at the back, Tim was able to extract them without much fuss although a couple of em had hold of bits of twig, It was surmised that the twigs may have been in the box from a former attempt by Jackdaws to nest, anyway we soon had five bags full of Owlets of various stages of development!

So the Owls are bagged up, ready to go one by one they are processed, time out of the bag is kept to a minimum, they are sexed, measured, weighed and aged and then ringed (not necessarily in that order!!😀) The data is recorded in a notebook and the Owlet is returned to the bag, Emma who also has the licenses  does a couple very professionally, although apparently she prefers bats!!.

We had 5 Owlets

Of which 2 were probable Male and 3  were female, Both presumed  Males did have a few spots on the flank but other features made Tim think they were most likely Male, Females have small dark spots on the breast and flanks Males are clean white, the oldest was recorded at 53 days the youngest at 42 days, The chicks are aged by measuring the 7th primary feather, the oldest was measured at 135mm the youngest at 77mm. The Owlets were slightly underweight for their age, the heaviest was 310grams, where it would be expected to be around 375grams, so maybe a bit of a food shortage leading up to our visit?  Owls and other Raptors start incubating their eggs as soon as they are laid, unlike most birds who wait until the whole clutch is laid before incubating, this means you have Chicks of different sizes, when times are good and there is plenty of food all the chicks get fed, if the food dries up the largest older chicks get the lions share of the food and in really tough years will eat the smaller Chicks ensuring that at least the biggest, oldest chicks survive, although this year at least it looks as though most of them will get to fledge, indeed a couple of them looked like they would be ready to go in the next couple of weeks. I wondered if the missing sixth egg of which there was no sign may have been a victim of this strategy but it is impossible to know for sure, other more optimistic people present speculated that the 6th bird may have been the oldest and may have already left the nest😀

The video below shows the ringing process! 

This video shows Emma dealing with a bit of a feisty one!

By now the dopier members of staff present had started naming the Owlets, Barny, Rubble, Cutesy Fluffy and Demon Hawk-slayer  I named the last one in order to provide a bit of reality to proceedings, after all these are highly efficient, merciless killing machines, designed to sink their Talons into the backs of unsuspecting mice/voles etc as silently and efficiently as possible, calling a magnificent death bringer, Fluffy goes against the grain!! 

It was a very interesting session with everyone present felt very privileged to be a part of, very educational as well, I didn't know for instance that the parent birds don't stay with the chicks in the nest box but roost elsewhere during the day and returning to the box at night to feed the young uns. Tim said as far as he knew 5 live chicks in the box represented the biggest nest in Sussex this year, he didn't know of a bigger one at any rate.

A couple of us were also allowed to hold  an Owlet ready to be processed under strict supervision and instruction from Tim, again an honour and a privilege that I doubt we will get again!

My colleague Angie with Owlet

My colleague Jane  with Owlet

Apologies for the quality of the pictures by the way, we only found out it was happening on the day so unfortunately didn't have my camera gear so all done on phones, the pics were taken by various people present on various phones that have been sent to me over the last couple of days so I'm not sure who took what on what phone, but all people gave permission for their pics to be used!!

Warning Hunk alert!!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂Cute , Fluffy , Adorable and there is an Owlet as well😀😀😀😀💔

Think I got the cutest one

All these pics were taken as part of the ringing process and the birds were out of the bag for just a few extra seconds!

Demon Hawk-slayer showing an awesome set of Talons!!

One of the older Owlets

Looking for the Spots, Male or Female?

Older Owlet post ringing

Ringing in process

Adorable, Cute ,Fluffy!!! I know if you can't beat em join em😂💘💘💘💘💘💘

Although them Talons

Another one nearly ready to go

Approximately Half n hour or so after it was started it was over and the Owlets were soon back in the box with their new bling seemingly no worse for wear, lets hope they all fledge and go on to have families of their own!!

They of course face many dangers when they leave the nest box far worse than Angie cooing all over them😀😀😀. Cars are probably their deadliest predator, increasingly unpredictable weather does for them, careless use of Rat and Mouse poison, Owls will eat the dead and dying rodents ingesting the poison leading to a build up, which if it doesn't kill them (it usually 😢does) will mean their eggs won't be viable, (if you must use it and frankly there is no real need, at least use a professional contractor who will reduce the risk) increasing numbers of natural predators, the welcome return of Peregrines, Goshawks and other Raptors to our skies after years or persecution and pesticide abuse also provide a threat to Barn Owls although being largely crepuscular and nocturnal reduces the risk some what. despite all this and ever encroaching habitat destruction from new roads and housing estates, Barn Owls seem to be hanging on in Sussex so fingers crossed for our guys, hopefully the nest box will be used again next year, with the birds presumably being less sensitive  to people than they were!!

Many, many thanks to Tim and Emma for letting us share this experience, I have, as a birder had many awesome encounters with wildlife, this is up there with one of the best, think everyone involved  enjoyed it immensely and everyone was talking about nothing else all the next day, with many who weren't present being extremely jealous of the lucky few and we hardly rubbed it in at all 😀😀😀!!

So a few weeks have passed since the ringing session and there have been multiple sittings of multiple owls buy multiple people, might be a few to many multiples in there!! Unfortunately I haven't been able to get in early enough to catch a glimpse, but people have reported at least 4 birds flying about sitting in trees etc, hopefully I can get some Barny action over the next few weeks, video below taken by my colleague Michael  which is mainly interesting for the sounds rather than the pictures lots of hissing!! So turn the sound up!

Breaking news!!! I heard today from Emma that this season, in Sussex, 44 Broods were ringed, a total of 144 Barn Owls, there was one brood of Six and three of five Owlets of which ours was one, so not the biggest in Sussex but not bad!!!