The Tawny Owl season

Here are the scores from the East Midlands Tawnovision jury, based on our first visits to 173 nest boxes:

EAST LINCS

Tawny Owl 14 (17%)
Jackdaw 25 (30.5%)
Stock Dove 14 (17%)
Great Tit 1 (1.5%)
Grey Squirrel 16 (19.5%)
Empty 12 (14.5%)

= Total 82

Tawny Owl breakdown: 1x 4 pulli, 1x 3 pulli, 1x 2 pulli, 2x 1 pull+1 egg, 3x 2 eggs, 2x 1egg, 2x addled/abandoned egg, 1x adult sat tight and 1x roosting/late nesting bird

NORTH NOTTS

Tawny Owl 19 (40%)
Jackdaw 2 (4%)
Stock Dove 7 (14.5%)
Grey Squirrel 10 (21%)
Empty 10 (21%)

= Total 48

Tawny Owl breakdown: 1x 3 pulli, 6x 2 pulli, 1x 4 eggs, 4x 3 eggs, 7x 2 eggs

SOUTH EAST NOTTS

Tawny Owl 11 (26%)
Jackdaw 7 (16%)
Stock Dove 9 (21%)
Grey Squirrel 15 (35%)
Empty 1 (2%)

= Total 43

Tawny Owl breakdown: 1x 3 pulli, 1x 2 pulli, 6x 1 pulli, 1x 2 eggs, 2x addled/abandoned egg


COMMENTS

• only one Short-tailed Field Vole was found cached
• carrion found included the head of adult Carrion Crow and hind leg of adult hare
• no cached juvenile birds (other than remains of corvids and stock dove) 
• late breeding of resident birds (inc Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird) means no 1Js for the Tawny Owls to hunt
• total failure on high ground in Lincs Wolds
• seemed to fare worst in mature deciduous woodland
• mature 3yr+ adults breeding in boxes hardly used, perhaps implying they've moved out of home territories in search of food over winter and tried to breed elsewhere?
• in east Lincs it's the worst breeding season since the late 1980s
• of all the other boxes checked by SNRG, only 2 were occupied by Tawny Owls 

Jim Lennon and Adrian Blackburn