Good News!

As we were checking the remaining owl nesting boxes this afternoon we stopped to have a look at the wild bird seed crop that was planted a few weeks back. There is good news to report back, the seeds have germinated; the bare soil is speckled with fresh green seedlings.  As these grow they will provide a variety of food sources through the year. Insects will visit the flowers before birds feed on the seed in the late summer and autumn. We will keep you all posted as to how this project progresses.

In one of the boxes we visited earlier, we found a Tawny Owl sitting, with four young chicks. It is very unusual for there to be a clutch of this size, more normally you would expect to see two or possibly three. The chicks are currently too small to ring but we will be re-visiting the box once they have had a chance to grow. The adult was first ringed while she was nesting in the same box two years ago.