Len Pick Trust Owl Project

The owlets are three weeks old and are doing well despite the recent heavy rain.

Much of this fell during the day so the male has been able to hunt through the night.

The chicks won’t need brooding from next week so the female will begin to share the hunting.

It is two weeks since our oldest chick hatched and the brood of four are thriving thanks to the good weather.

This week a short tailed vole was brought in by the male which is a really good sign as only field mice have been seen in the nest chamber so far.

Voles form most of the diet of barn owls in the UK and they have been scare in the East Midlands so far this year because of the late winter weather.

However, in these optimum conditions, they can soon increase their numbers very rapidly and it appears this will now happen in time for our growing family to benefit.

Exciting news from the owl tower today.

Our barn owls have a brood of four chicks.

They are feeling the heat ((aren’t we all?) but they are coping well.

The male is bringing in lots of field mice.

The female won’t hunt until the chicks are two weeks old.

It is possible all four chicks will fledge in two months time.

The main factor will be the weather. If it gets very windy, with overnight rain, the adults will struggle to hunt and the brood will deplete.

This is quite natural .

The older chicks will then get the most food. That’s why the eggs hatch at two and a half day intervals.

Let’s hope they all make it.

It was very hot in the owl tower today so the female barn owl didn’t need to brood the chicks.

This gave us a rare opportunity to see the three tiny owlets.

There is still plenty of time for the fourth egg to hatch.

This morning we can see a broken eggshell near the female.

It will be a matter of luck when we see the chick itself as she will brood it closely.

If all the eggs hatch we should have a full brood by the middle of next week.

Today we briefly saw the fourth egg.

It was laid last Friday.

The female barn owl will do all the incubating and we can expect the first chick to hatch in the third week of May if all goes well.

Tonight the female barn owl lifted off the nest to reveal three eggs. The third would have been laid on Tuesday evening.

The fourth egg should be here by Friday lunchtime.

The male provides all the food for his mate during incubation. Viewers will notice he disappears for long periods at night. The settled weather this week will help him to hunt.

This morning the female owl laid her first egg.

There has been a build up of prey brought in during the past two or three days by the male.

Barn owls incubate their clutch from the first egg, meaning the chicks hatch at different intervals.

Eggs are laid at approximately two and a half day intervals so we can expect the next egg later on Sunday night.

Regular viewers will have noticed both birds are often present during daylight hours in the nest chamber.

There has been a huge build up of pellets since the last photo (below) taken nearly five months ago.

Egg laying could take place anytime in the next few weeks.

There is often a build up of prey items prior to the first egg.

This is courtesy of the male, who is keen to show he will make a good father!

Thanks to some hard work by our Len Pick Trust volunteers, the owl tower nest box is looking very smart and we already have a barn owl regularly roosting there.

The photo shows a few black pellets on the fresh substrate.

Owls don’t build a nest so it is essential they have something to lay their eggs on to stop them rolling around.

The pellets are full of the fur and bones of their digested prey. The birds can only process the flesh of the rodents they eat and the rest is ejected through their beaks onto the floor.

Over the course of the year, hundreds of these pellets can build up.

2025 was disastrous for barn owls. South of a line from Lincoln to Chester they had their worst breeding season ever recorded.

The wet late winter was followed by a drought which decimated the vole population. Short tailed voles are the staple prey item of most owls. Given favourable conditions over the next few months their numbers will build up again.

Let’s hope for a successful breeding season in 2026.