Saturday, February 20, 2016

Barn Owls in Calderdale

Barn Owl - this is a rare bird in Calderdale.
We have records of a pair breeding regularly near Elland in the late ..60's/early ..70's and successfully raising youngsters. Then there was a big gap until a pair were found breeding in the eastern area of Calderdale in 2007 and were still present at the site in 2008 though there was no confirmation of successful breeding.

Since then, records have been at best sparse, until the last 6 months or so! In this time we have records from at least 7 sites (with one confirmed breeding pair raising 2 youngsters both of which unfortunately died at or soon after the fledging stage from unknown causes).

One site has recently been fitted with a nest box to encourage further opportunities for breeding and we are grateful to those who installed the nestbox with the generous co-operation of the farmer.

For the safety and security of the birds we do not disclose, on the blog, the locations sightings. If anyone has any further information on Barn Owls in Calderdale then we would be very interested. Either contact myself or our Bird Recorder, Nick Dawtrey, or email info@calderdalebirds.co.uk






 


Barn Owl at undisclosed site

5 comments:

Brian Sumner . said...

Nice shots Dave .

Dave Brotherton said...

Cracking shots Dave and great to have the Barn Owls breeding in the Calderdale area

ChrisJB said...

Great news for Calderdale, yet strangely this increase doesn't appear to have been replicated on the Rochdale side. Or, maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

Phil D said...

Great news about the Barn Owls and cracking shots Dave. Were they taken at the same location as the breeding box?
I know the area well where the box is located and keep checking the site but still no look on spotting the owl.

David Sutcliffe said...

The Barn Owl shots were at a different location Phil.