On Sunday BOAG attended a Biodiversity Day held at Dove Valley Activity Centre near Sheen in the Peak District. This event has been held for a number of years at the beginning of June. Paul and Elspeth Walker have always been great supporters of BOAG having installed a number of nest boxes on their land and with barn owls which have nested in the area for a number of years.
It was a beautiful sunny day with activities which included pond dipping, bird and wildflower walks and story telling. During the day BOAG monitored the nest boxes but, unfortunately there were no barn owls present and Paul and Elspeth hadn't seen any about for a number of months. There were a few barn owl pellets under an old hollow ash tree but no signs of any barn owls nesting there. This story is being repeated across Staffordshire following the cold winter and delayed spring, in the meadows there was little evidence of vole runs through the long grass. This year is certainly looking bleak for the barn owl.
On a happier note there was a redstart family busy feeding young in the barn where we had set up our barn owl display, the adult birds were not perturbed by our presence and regularly returned to their young with plenty of insects.
It was a beautiful sunny day with activities which included pond dipping, bird and wildflower walks and story telling. During the day BOAG monitored the nest boxes but, unfortunately there were no barn owls present and Paul and Elspeth hadn't seen any about for a number of months. There were a few barn owl pellets under an old hollow ash tree but no signs of any barn owls nesting there. This story is being repeated across Staffordshire following the cold winter and delayed spring, in the meadows there was little evidence of vole runs through the long grass. This year is certainly looking bleak for the barn owl.
On a happier note there was a redstart family busy feeding young in the barn where we had set up our barn owl display, the adult birds were not perturbed by our presence and regularly returned to their young with plenty of insects.