A fantastic garden moment...Little Owls!

[British Red]

We have barn owls nesting one field beyond the house and infrequent tawny owls, but we have been trying for a while to encourage Lincolnshires prettiest hunting birds into the garden - so today was a happy moment - even if they do seem to prefer a garden chair to the owl boxes!


Little Owl by British Red, on Flickr

 

[Niels]

What a cutie! Great picture.

 

[Passer]

What a great garden tick.
You must be be thrilled, congrats.

 

[Macaroon]

What a beauty! A fantastic garden moment indeed..............Don't seem to to see or hear the little 'uns down here these past couple of years.........Well done!....atb mac

 

[Harvestman]

I am so jealous of that! What a brilliant thing to happen.

 

[yarrow]

Very nice, I hope it becomes a regular visitor for you.

 

[Mesquite]

Nice one Hugh, lets hope they start nesting

 

[Dogoak]

Brilliant, really nice to hear and see.

 

[British Red]

Lovely things huh? They certainly hunt here as we have heard them - but I wanted to see one properly - and get them to nest too! Still have to get one nesting though

 

[Elen Sentier]

I'm very envious! They're glorious little things. We used to have them here 10 years ago then they disappeared, not sure why although we do live in the middle of an industrial farm but they'd been around for ages before that according to everyone. I do hope yours nest. And it's a fab pic

 

[Bowlander]

They're brilliant little chaps. Here in Bowland we've got all the UK species (bar Snowy) but only had Tawny and Barn Owl from the garden.

 

[Dave]

Oh Wow, thats great. I'd love to see any owl in the garden.

 

[Toddy]

Excellent and apparantly they're happy enough around humans so you might well get your wish

There are Barn and Tawny owls in the woods here, but I thought the (introduced) little owl preferred parkland ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[British Red]

I guess the wide open spaces with a few trees is close enough - we aren't short of voles

 

[JonathanD]

We have little owls by us. And some also nest in the barns were the horses are stabled too. I've examined their pellets in detail. They seem to be mostly insectivorous around here, with the occasional bat and shrew taken.

 

[Bowlander]

http://www.owls.org/Archive/feathersfly.htm

These chaps are brilliant! Seen them a few times - most impressive!

 

[British Red]

Given I have been clearing a lot of weed trees and doing sundry other restoration and improvement work it was time to do some work to encourage our feathered friends. I have re-positioned the owl boxes in the garden and cut some new flight paths...time will tell if we succeed


Tawny Owl Box by British Red, on Flickr


Little Owl Box by British Red, on Flickr


Barn Owl Box by British Red, on Flickr

Here's hoping!

 

[British Red]

http://www.owls.org/Archive/feathersfly.htm

These chaps are brilliant! Seen them a few times - most impressive!

That's one for me to envy - I've flown eagle owls from the glove, but never seen a wild one

We think we have sussed the Little owl nest site - they have returned to our garden on several occasions now and the nest site is close. On one particularly noteworthy evening the Little Owl was perched in an ash quite unperturbed as a barn owl quartered the paddock. I count that as a magic moment!

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Lovely bird boxes BR but the Barn owl one does seem a liitle exposed for these secretive creatures & in full sun which will cook any eventual chicks. You may get more success if you hang it high on the North face of a building.

 

[British Red]

That's a good point - it'll cover over soon though - that tree has just been reduced by a third in height and has almost no canopy. Hopefully the new canopy will form around it - although some judicious shaping may be needed.