The Len Pick Trust is looking forward to welcoming distinguished wildlife photographer Nick Williams to the Len Pick Memorial Evening, which is set to return to the Bourne Corn Exchange on Wednesday, 11th October 2023 following a 2 year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A former primary school headteacher, Nick has travel the world taking beautiful wildlife photography and presenting shows to schools & adult groups for over 30 years. Nick’s photographs have appeared regularly in popular publications such as Bird Watching Magazine and Birds Illustrated.
From his home on the edge of the Lincolnshire Fens, Nick has been lucky enough to travel to many parts of the world, taking photographs as he goes and using them in his illustrated shows. The Len Pick Memorial Evening will be a ‘travelogue’ of his experiences, containing lots of interesting facts, humour and haunting music sequences. Nick is no stranger to the Memorial Evening, having given a short presentation at the event in 2007 before Dr. David Bellamy OBE took to the stage.
The Len Pick Memorial Evening is held annually, and provides an opportunity to remember the life of Len Pick and his positive contribution to the town. The event was previously held in January, on or around the date of Len Pick’s death, but has been moved to October following uncertainty around Covid-19 health protection measures in the winter.
Previous guest speakers have included Amanda Owen, Adam Henson, Mandy Hickson and Bill Turnbull.
Tickets go on-sale on Friday, 1st September 2023 at 9am, and are available to purchase online for £7.50 each at www.lenpicktrust.org.uk/event. Tickets include a complimentary glass of wine upon arrival. The event will be held at the Bourne Corn Exchange on Wednesday, 11th October 2023 starting at 7pm.
The surviving chick is seven weeks old today.
Soon it will disappear into the entrance tunnel for long periods but will return to the box at feeding time.
Things have improved a lot this week as the harvest is finally underway and mice are abundant.
In fact there has been surplus prey this past few days so the adult female has been able to take things a bit easier after a difficult time in July.
Young rats are common amongst the prey items. The lack of voles this year has meant the adult owls have had to look for other rodent species.
Surprisingly, the adult male has turned up again! He hasn’t been seen for a few weeks but now he pops into the box most nights, sometimes with prey, but mostly to bond with the female.
Following on from our previous post, we are pleased to report that the harvest has really commenced over the last couple of days, notwithstanding the intermittent showers and rainstorms.
As predicted, the combine has driven out the mice and voles and keen followers of the Video feed will have noticed, as a consequence, that the chick has had adequate prey delivered. Indeed, yesterday afternoon the mother was spotted resting in the box after delivering prey for the chick overnight.
Obviously, the fate of the chick depends on so many factors and so we hope for continuing dry weather so that the mother can continue her hunting. Rain is the enemy as Owls cannot fly with wet plumage.
Poor weather conditions during summer have led to big challenges for our nesting owls. We understand that for some of our viewers, it can be concerning to see the chicks alone in the owl tower for prolonged periods of time, and so in this blog update, our resident owl expert explains what has been going on.
Prey is very scarce this year for Lincolnshire’s barn owls. It is the worst year in living memory and this is borne out by what is happening at the Len Pick Trust nest.
Only two chicks hatched and the youngest died earlier this month. The adult male has disappeared and so the female is doing all the hunting, but she visits every night, usually when most webcam viewers are asleep so it’s easy to assume she has disappeared.
Last night she fed the chick at midnight, but whether the owlet can survive on a reduced diet is unsure.
The wet weather conditions have led to a poor harvest for Lincolnshire’s farmers – and remarkably, this affects our owl chick’s chances of survival. When combine harvesters are in the fields, this drives mice and voles out of the ground and makes them easier for the owls to catch, providing food to feed their chicks. If the combines can get out soon then there will be plenty of mice available, but that of course is weather dependant.
The camera is monitored regularly by our owl experts, and it has always been the Len Pick Trust’s policy never to interfere with nature whatever the circumstances, and we hope that our owl towers provide a safe home for nesting owls. These are wild birds, and will have good and bad years depending on prey availability.
Last night our smallest chick died.
This was not unexpected as reports are coming in from all over the county of brood depletion due to the weather conditions and lack of prey.
Barn owls struggle to hunt in the high winds such as we witnessed last weekend. Rain is also their enemy so put the two together and it is unsurprising we have the perfect storm.
The harvest is underway so we may get a glut of mice to help the eldest chick survive if the weather improves.
Reception pupils at Bourne Elsea Park Church of England Primary Academy were delighted to meet with trustees of the Len Pick Trust to thank them in person for their generous donation of £20,000 to support an ongoing project in the Early Years Foundation Stage outdoor learning area.
The project was planned by early years lead Wendy Campbell, alongside Newby Leisure Ltd as well as feedback from pupils and has resulted in a complete refurbishment of the existing outdoor area.
The pupils are delighted with their new outdoor classroom and thanks to the incredible generosity of the Len Pick Trust, they are now able to resource the area with quality equipment and resources so that the area can be used all year round and by additional groups of children across the community.
India, aged five, said: “We want to have puddle suits and wellies for everyone so we can go out and learn in the rain.”
Joseph, aged five, was exited to ask for bikes and trikes: “We would like bikes with two or three seats so that we can ride on at the same time as our friends.”
The impact of the project on the Early Years children will help support physical development, communication and language and personal and social development, three key areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Wendy Campbell, Early Years Lead, said: “We are thrilled to have this support from such a wonderful local charity and the impact on our current and future classes will be exciting to see.
“We are overjoyed at the money we have been donated and will be using it to resource our area with a sensory garden, new cooperative clothing and storage, physical development equipment as well as outdoor resource boxes for each curriculum area. This is an exciting project and is already sparking a huge interest from the children.”
Pupils from Bourne Elsea Park Church of England Primary Academy are excitedly waiting for their first delivery of new resources and feeling very lucky for this kind donation by the Len Pick Trust.
Trustees visited the children to see the start of the project and said: “We are delighted to support the school and this wonderful initiative.”
The two barn owl chicks are growing fast.
Food is still scarce as there aren’t many voles around.
The male is seen less and less, suggesting he may have another female nesting nearby.
Our hen bird is out hunting for long periods every night .
The unhatched eggs are scattered now.
It is now eleven days since the second chick hatched so we must assume the remaining two barn owl eggs won’t hatch.
As for the “rogue” stock dove egg it is anyone’s guess what will happen, but the odds are stacked against it.
There is also a possibility the male owl isn’t bringing in enough prey. On Monday he visited the nest with a mouse at 11pm and wasn’t seen again that night. The female eventually left the chicks unguarded for two spells, eventually catching a mouse herself.
It is very rare in the barn owl world for mum to leave tiny young, especially as she left them at one point for an hour and four minutes!
So we continue to watch with bated breath this ongoing saga.
There is a shortage of field voles this year due to the unhelpful weather conditions in the spring.
The harvest cannot come soon enough for the owls as there will then be a brief glut of mice.
It is nearly a week since we saw the second barn owl chick hatch so we must assume the third egg is not viable.
We now look to the fourth egg hatching which could be this weekend.
The two chicks are growing fast and prey is becoming more plentiful.
On Thursday night the male brought in an extra six rodents!
Last night, at 9.20pm, the second chick broke out of its shell.
This was much later than anticipated.
The time between egg 1 and egg 2 hatching was eighty hours.
If goes well, the third chick should hatch around Tuesday evening.
2nd chick breaking out of shell