Barn Owls - Autumn Update

We managed to ring another eight barn owl chicks on Saturday. As seems to be the norm, seven of these were ringed at Normanton, nr Bottesford, which is a hot spot for late broods. The Indian summer is being kind to them and the BOs are finding enough food at the moment. This is unusual as late breeders tend to have very small clutches and or fail entirely once the autumn gales and rain kick in. Last year I ringed 88 pullus, with seven of those ringed in September. So far this year I've ringed 38 pullus, but 27 of them have been ringed since 1st September and there's still one more brood to hopefully ring in November!

Jim

Attenborough Ringing Demo, Sunday 6 October

We had a good turn out of ringers for the demo at Attenborough on Sunday on a glorious morning with a light westerly breeze. Unfortunately we had very few birds and not very many visitors. The total catch was just 9 new birds comprising 3 Blue Tits, 1 Great Tit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Robin 1 Tree Sparrow and 2 Dunnocks. Despite the lack of birds and visitors it was nice to have time to catch up with people and have a chat. Thanks to Jim, Mick P, Alex, Sue, Kate and Sophie for helping out and as usual many thanks to the staff at the visitor centre for keeping us fed and watered throughout.

Kev