WHAT ARE THESE BARN OWLS DOING IN FACT WHAT IS GOING ON!!!

I am still out on a nightly basis monitoring these beautiful  birds but still I am unable to come up with any idea a to what is going on, I intend in the next few days to put the cameras on to see who is residing where, I was out in the area near the boxes this afternoon trimming the grass back under the boxes and picked up forteen pellets, some being the largest I have ever seen, we had four that were 3 inches long. I have got a reasonable pile of pellets from the last few days .

The images below were taken over several days but the last few are from one evening , so I will let  the images and report under explain as to the occurence.
I think the most likely scenario is  the resident male in the large box is a young male and the interloper male is an older bird , who is definitely intimidating the young male, the female could also be a young bird hence the self feeding initially, this appears to have stopped but which male is feeding her?, I think either way the chances of breeding  this year are unfortunately fading but I will as instructed by the BTO still monitor all  occurrences, dates and times. 

Male Barn Owl, Large Box.

First look out of the evening, he tends to have a quick look about to see the coast is clear then he's away He certainly has a very sharp looking beak. You can also see the feathers indentation covering the large ear.

And away we go only to return in under four minutes with a mouse, 

Again on another evening, just before flying.

Again this and the next image are just before he flew .

Even though shooting at very high ISO, its still very difficult not to get a blurred image. 

On his way out, so difficult to guess when he's going to fly.

For once I managed to catch him returning, this time with no mouse but this was after his third trip out Its always a very quick activity and into the box.

These are taken on a continuous shooting so it gives some idea of the speed the bird enters the box,.

A quick folding of the wings and were in the entrance.

He put his head out and then thought better of it .

And returned into the box.the time was 21.30 hrs

Then suddenly the Interloper appeared on the front of the small box, by the time I had got myself and camera at the ready which is for the above image, he had landed on the large box, and turned round, I thought he was going to fly straight back to his box, but he obviously has a favourite post, as the resident male , but on the other side of the box. 

So up onto the post and he then about turned.

He then watched the world go by for several minutes, noticeably  he has different eye staining and much different feather markings. 

And then he flew down and entered the box.?? 

It was getting very dark so the images are poor .

But he definitely went into the box with the resident male inside, sqo I rushed out of my hide for the fifty metres to the box ans stood ready to beat the uprights if I could hear  fighting, but all was peaceful, has anybody else  experienced this, certainly a first for me but
I must consult the experts at the Barn Owl Trust.

I then returned to my hide and after some ten minutes {thar seemed more like an hour} the resident male appeared in the entrance, it was getting very dark and even with my set up it was a struggle to see the bird let alone get an image.

Another evening and th resident male in the entrance.

Theses are on his return with a mouse that he is holding in his beak, I have not seen the female for several days so hopefully they are both settling into a routine of him feeding her, only time will tell.

Three days of Owl pellets.

Wood Pigeon.

Landed on top of the small box, just a chance image. 

EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.


I then had a quick visit to Eyebrook Reservoir but on my way called in at the village where I see all the Red Kites. But found that Arthur  had been unable due to Covid to get to the Abattoir for his supplies but normal service will be resumed in the next few days hopefully.
Again I Didn't see the Male Osprey 03/09 but had a visit to the nest site and managed a few long distance images, I think due to Covid the fishery are not stocking many trout and he is visiting Rutland Water instead, or the fish farm.
I still had an entertaining afternoon with the Terns which again were up and down and generally all mover the place, mind I have found something harder to get images from, whilst out with the Barn Owls  I am invariably joined by five bats, so this really is a challenge that I must admit to loosing 10 nil, Just to get the lens to focus on such a small flying creature, and they don't fly slow, I found to be virtually impossible, and decided to carry on ws a fools game but I will maybe try again.???

Common Terns.

Again these birds were so entertaining and a challenge to get some decent images.

Herring Gull.

I was not one hundred percent sure as to this being a Herring Gull so ~I asked my pal Rhys who confirmed it as being so. 

Site O Osprey Nest Site ,

Being a mile from the gateway a bird can be seen on the 'T 'post.

A few weeks ago I thought we had two young in the nest but it appears we have just the one.






I hope you have enjoyed your visit as much as I did in the getting of the images and you agree with my thoughts on the Barn Owls. 

AN UPDATE ON THE BARN OWLS AND AN UNSUCCESSFUL VISIT TO  EYEBROOK RESERVOIR

Having been out monitoring the Barn Owls every evening  when its not been raining, we are getting at last a picture as to what is occuring. I have also had the CCTV cameras on in both boxes and our Barn Owl population is as follows. In the smaller box we have a male, and in the large box we have a pair.  The male is roosting on top of the internal entrance baffle and the female is on the floor at the far end of the box. The  turn of events is as follows, the female is the first to leave the box  and returns relatively quickly with a mouse and enters into the box, after about ten minutes the male leaves and normally return within a matter of a few minutes  with a mouse and enters the box, he stays in the box for about ten minutes and then goes away on another hunting trip, the interloper male I have seen I estimate six times, he leaves his box and goes directly to the large box and enters, he stays for about five minutes before emerging  and flying away, I have never seen him return  for a second visit but how long must I stay out??. I was talking with my birding pal Rhys yesterday and we are both of the same opinion, the interloper male is disturbing the female, normally a female would allow the male to feed her, his job is to get her into breeding condition to produce eggs, she should not need to go out and hunt for herself, the male is doing everything he should be, we obviously have a good supply of food how quickly he returns when out hunting, which is another marker if they are going to breed , the female should not be hunting, somehow the equilibrium of the pair has been disturbed, but what can we do. My schedule 1 licence allows for the monitoring and ringing of Barn Owls, I can not go and disturb the interloper male, I have just got to let nature take its course, its far wiser in these matters than me, and at least the interloper has a good dry and warm box in all this awful weather we have been experiencing lately. 

Our Box set up.

Male Barn Owl, Large box.

First sighting of him this evening. 21.15 hrs.

A quick look about to see the coast is clear. 

Then out onto the front but facing the smaller box. 

Then a quick about turn and I thought he was away hunting. 

But we stood a little longer taking in the evening air and views .

Another quick look about.

And back into the box for about ten minutes. 

Then he r e emerges. 21.35 hrs

Walks to the end of the front and up onto his favourite post.

He ponders the nights work ahead of him.

Stands on one leg and looks about. 

Watches a Pigeon fly past.

Then has a little snooze before going hunting 21.55 hrs.

I then notice movement on the front of the smaller box as the interloper emerges. 

Flies across and enters the large box and stays inside for about five minutes before coming out ang going away hunting. 

Female Barn Owl.

 her flying in from my left and land on the front of the small box with a mouse, she then flew to the large box and went in.

The female again on anther evening the only good thing is with her being about earlier, no high ISO.
The female is not heavily flecked as the male and ha a paler look her, she is also larger than the male.

Entering the large box at speed with her mouse.

ANOTHER VISIT TO EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.

My visit was again more for the Osprey but he did not appear for me, he apparently had several fishing trips in the morning but whilst I was about he didn't show, as hard as I look I cannot  as yet find his roosting tree, this male is not like the Manton Bay  male{33{11}, he is very involved with both incubating and the feeding, 03 just turns up and drops the fish and is then away and leaves the female to get on with it.  For the last  two years he has spent most of his time in a dead tree on the far side of the reservoir, this year he could be staying closer  to the nest site. So with no Osprey images I have got some from previous years and pit them on this blog, more for my satisfaction, hopefully I eill get to see him soon.

CommonTern Raft .

This week with the wind direction having changed, the adults were feeding on the far side of the water so no reasonable images possible.

Cormorant,

This bird was flying towards the Dam on the far side of th water, some 400 metres away.

Mute Swans with cygnets.
I have never seen before a female with a cygnet having a lazy ride. several times with Great Crested Grebes with all the young on the back. 

Mute Swan with Cygnets.
This female with larger young I saw on my previous visit, doesn't appear to have one having a piggy back. 

Black Headed Gull,

These birds were feeding closer where the Terns were feeding previously.

Buzzard.
Took this image out the car window having to hand hold this very heavy lens. 

 Osprey 03/09, Male from site O.

These are some unused images from last year Just for me to look at.

You can just read his rblue ring, his missing wing feather is due to the fact Osprey have a continuous molt, it is never a good time for them to molt due to the migration.

Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as i did in the getting of the images.