Nesting Time

This is the busiest time of the year for the members of the Swaledale Ringing Group as they monitor hundreds of nests. One of the first species to breed is the Tawny Owl and over the Bank Holiday weekend a few of the large nest boxes were checked to see what stage the owls are at. This beautiful female is number GR17214 and was first ringed by the team back in 2017. She has been caught again twice since then and last year was one of the few adults that managed to successfully raise a chick in the harsh weather conditions when there was a lack of food following a severe winter.

All of the data collected is submitted to the BTO as part of the Nest Record Scheme. Although Tawny owls do not seem to move far from where they hatch, the ringing data is vital to learn about longevity and survival rates. The BTO and other scientists can use the Nest Record Scheme’s long-term dataset to assess the impacts that changes in the environment, such as habitat loss and global warming, have on the productivity of wild birds.