Barn owl nest boxes constructed by Young Rangers group
Young Rangers
A PROJECT to help barn owls in coastal parts of north Northumberland has been undertaken by the Young Rangers on the Coast.
The first part of the project was to build some nest boxes, following a design perfected over the years by local barn owl expert Phil Hanmer.
Whilst half the group built their nest box in the National Trust workshop, the other half headed out to check and clean out some existing boxes. This group were in luck as one of the boxes was occupied by a roosting owl and Phil was able to show them how the owls are aged, sexed and measured.
The next stage of the project is to paint the boxes and install them in barns on the coast in time for this year’s breeding season.
In the summer, the young rangers will join Phil when he checks boxes for young ‘owlets’ and see how they are ringed as part of the BTO ringing scheme.
The Young Rangers will also be dissecting some owl pellets to find out what our coastal barn owls have been eating.
Phil, who monitors some 125 barn owl nesting sites in north Northumberland, said: “Owls breed well depending on what the winter has been like. If they start the spring in good condition, fat and healthy, they do well.
“Barn owls are not particularly plentiful in Northumberland; they are slowly increasing but are knocked back by bad winters.
“The best year I have seen was back in 2009,” he added. “While 2010 and 2011 were worse because there were really bad winters before the birds started breeding in the spring, 2012 was actually good because the last winter was good; owls would have done even better if it had not been so wet all summer.”
He revealed that 73 young owlets were ringed in 2012. Ringing provides lots of fascinating information - one ringed in a box at Fenton in 2009 turned up alive and well on a golf course near Houghton le Spring this year!
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Weather for Berwick-Upon-Tweed
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 8 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
