The camera at The Len Pick Trust tower has seen many successful breeding seasons in the past and this year our pair are already together and have been seen mating.

It will be a few weeks before we have the first egg as barn owls don’t usually lay in the UK until late April or even early May.

Much depends on the availability of prey. The female needs to get into egg laying condition over the next month or so, and this means eating at least four small rodents each night. Many of these will be brought to her by the male to show her how good a provider he is.

It is possible the vole population might be quite low at the moment as so much of their grassland habitat has been under water recently.

We must wait and see. Fingers crossed.

A very warm welcome to our Owl Tower blog, which returns for the 2024 nesting season.

By this time of year, our our live camera feed would usually be visible on this page, giving a unique insight into our South Lincolnshire owl tower. Sadly, during a storm in 2023, the camera equipment was damaged meaning the feed is not currently available. We’re working hard to install new equipment and get the video feed online once again, and hope to have this issue resolved within the next couple of weeks.

The club-house at Bourne Rugby Club has recently benefitted from a significant refurbishment, thanks to a grant from the Len Pick Trust. The building was in urgent need of structural repairs, along with renovation to the interior of the building, and Trustees were pleased to award a grant to enable these works to go ahead.
Trustee and Acting Trust Manager David Bower is pictured, right, at an event last month to mark the completion of the works, along with Ted Thornburn, Chair of Bourne Rugby Club and Aaron Calvert, who chairs the mini & juniors club division.
We hope that the refurbished club-house enables people to continue participating in and enjoying the sport of rugby for many years to come!

On the evening of Wednesday, 11th October 2023, distinguished wildlife photographer Nick Williams entertained the capacity audience at the Bourne Corn Exchange, taking them on an illustrated journey through his fascinating career.

Andy Warner, Chair of the Len Pick Trust, began the 2023 Memorial Evening by welcoming the audience, and updating them on the work of the Trust. It was the first time the event had been held since the Covid-19 pandemic, and so Mr. Warner spoke about some of the projects the trust had been involved with since 2020, including the restoration of benches in the town, contribution towards a new playing court at Bourne Tennis Club, and grants to support young people in the community, including the Bourne Guides’ trip to the Deep in Hull.

Nick Williams then took to the stage, and audiences were entertained by the stories of his work across the world photographing wildlife. His talk was accompanied by photographs that he had taken on his travels, segmented by captivating illustrated music sequences. Nick also spoke about wildlife projects closer to home, including the owl towers built and managed by the Len Pick Trust on land around Bourne.

The Len Pick Memorial Evening is an annual event, which takes place to remember the life of Len Pick and his significant contribution to the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Monday, 2nd October 2023, The Len Pick Trust warmly welcomed David Bower to the role of Acting Trust Manager, in a voluntary capacity.

David has served as a Trustee since 2015, carrying out the role of Chair of Trustees between 2019 and 2021. Mr. Bower is a familiar face to many around the town, having held senior positions at local businesses and being heavily involved in local community organisations, including the Bourne Scouts and Bourne Cricket Club.

David’s appointment comes following the departure of Adrian Smith, who retired as Trust Manager at the end of September 2023. Adrian was a founding Trustee following the death of Len Pick in 2004, and has played a pivotal role in shaping the Trust and its success to date. To many, Adrian was seen as the face of the Len Pick Trust, and we are sure that there are lots of people across the town who would like to join Trustees past and present in thanking Adrian for his remarkable contribution to the Trust and to the wider local community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adrian Smith is pictured in the above image, right, presenting a defibrillator to Wake House in 2022.

David succeeds Adrian’s role in an interim capacity for an initial period of 3 months and will help the trustees in looking to the future shape of the Trust.

Andy Warner, Chair of The Len Pick Trust, added: “We are very grateful for all the years of service that Adrian has given to the establishing and development of the trust. We are in a really good position moving forwards and look forward to this next phase of the Trust.”

Speaking on his appointment, David Bower commented: “It is exciting time to take over from Adrian as Acting Trust Manager.  The Trust is in a great position thanks to Adrian, and I will continue to promote our primary aim of providing grants for the benefit of Bourne.

We are afraid that following the thunder storms experienced over Bourne on Sunday afternoon, some of the owl camera equipment appears to have been damaged by a lighting strike(s) and consequently the camera feed is down.  We are investigating the problem and hope (Fingers crossed!) that matters are capable of of a relatively easy fix. In view of the fact that, prior to this episode, the surviving chick was latterly only infrequently seen in the box, we were contemplating turning the feed off for the season but the decision has now been made for us!

It has regrettably been a very mixed season this year and indeed we are advised that only some 97 Owl chicks have been ringed throughout the whole of the county  of Lincolnshire, so in some ways we have been lucky to produce one chick.

We are pleased to report as you will see, the camera feed has been restored thanks to our technical back-up guys – Well done!!!

Unfortunately, a problem has manifested itself with the Owl Cam feed. We are working on a fix and we hope to resolve the problem as soon as possible.

Our barn owl chick is eight weeks old and has started to look very much like an adult, It still has a bit of juvenile fluff but that will soon disappear.
From now on we shall see it only rarely in the nest box as it explores its immediate surroundings.

We shall then switch the camera off until next year.

It has been a difficult season for our owls, a situation repeated all over Lincolnshire.
The good years and the bad years eventually even themselves out, so maybe 2024 will be a bumper one?
We hope our loyal viewers have enjoyed watching our barn owl family despite all the ups and downs!

We are pleased to see that a significant programme  of refurbishment and improvement works to the Pavilion on the Recreation Ground has commenced thanks to grant funding provided by Bourne United Charities, Bourne Town Council and The Len Pick Trust. The works includes provision of an on-site storage container, anti-climb security fencing, general repairs and upgrading to the fabric of the building.

Trustees will watch with interest as the works progress over the coming weeks.