Heading out onto the mosses, we had one farm that had two Tree Sparrow boxes with five young ready to ring and these were promptly ringed but the Blue Tit and Goldfinch nests were still on eggs so we'll have to come back for them next time. At the same farm, we also have Kestrel breeding and a quick inspection of the nest revealed four youngsters ready for ringing.
Kestrel (Falco tinnuculus)
Heading on to another farm, a brood of five Jackdaw were ringed, the first of the year and continuing the trend of Jackdaws 'taking over' established Barn Owl boxes. The other box on site had Kestrel with eggs, so we will return in two weeks or so.
Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)
The final stop of the evening in Halsall was to catch up with a couple of broods of Blue Tit that were ready, one of eleven and one of five. There are another two nest boxes to check here, so we'll complete that visit next week as well.
The Sun was back out on Thursday unlike me. I spent the afternoon/evening planning a Level 2 Horticulture course that I will be delivering to KS4 students from the end of June. The evening was finished by playing Dr Frankenstein at the school Arts Festival.
On Friday, I headed out to a new site that I was asked to survey for Barn Owls, with the aim of confirming that they are breeding on the site. Upon inspection of the box (I forgot my torch so I had to do it by hand) revealed not one, but two adults in the box as well as three chicks. The chicks were too small to ring, but both adults were ringed much to the delight of the landowner. It's always exciting to add new sites to our Barn Owl nestbox scheme and this site looks pretty special with a wide variety of birds found on site.
Barn Owl (Tito alba)
We then headed on to check a few more farms, Tawny Owl still on eggs, Kestrel with day-old chicks and unhatched eggs, another Kestrel nest with six eggs and a Barn Owl box with two adults, both ringed and confirmed as a couple for at least the last three years.
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