Peak District Retreat Blog: Wildlife and general news about the Retreat and its environment

We had four eggs laid. All four hatched and all four owlets have grown and fledged successfully. This morning there are no owlets roosting in the box. Last night one owlet was on the ledge but had to go hunting for itself as, for the first time, no parent brought any prey to feed it.

Over the last few days occupancy has been intermittent, and it is possible that one or even two of them may visit over the next few days, but soon they will be dispersing away from this area to find an unoccupied territory that they can make their own.

We have enjoyed seeing them all flying around the area, and perching on the ledge, between dusk and dawn for the last few weeks. Until next year…

The Canada goslings have grown quickly, and the photos from yesterday show that at 55 days old their plumage is now very similar to the adult Canada geese.

It appears that one of the original six goslings has been lost, but the remaining five have grown well.

This evening, for the first time, the fourth and youngest owlet, 54 days since hatching, has managed to fly up from the base of the nest box and gain purchase on the exit hole. Its first three siblings have been exiting the box for a few days now, particularly the first two, achieving this for the first time at 56 days, 56 days, and 55 days respectively.

The first two hatchings have quickly become confident flyers. The third-hatched, at the right of the group (with its first outing being only two days ago, and still quite downy on the abdomen) is less confident but is nevertheless flying around.

At 56 days since hatching, the first hatched owlet has managed to fly up the box exit for the first time. It didn't venture out on to the ledge - it just clung on to the exit and looked around.

The parent twice brought it prey and tried to feed it as it clung there, but both times the prey was dropped onto the ledge. Perhaps the owlet was too focussed on clinging to the exit to manage to coordinate a food pass!

Soon it will be venturing out onto the ledge, and starting to fly around. It will return to the box, because barn owl parents only feed those at the box, not any that have left and not returned (even if they are stuck on the floor and can't get back to the box).

Expect a second owlet to also achieve this same milestone in the next couple of days.

As sunrise appears behind the geese and goslings, the gander is flapping his wings.

Look how big they are! Compare to when we first saw them 20 days ago.

There were and still are six goslings, though only four are captured on this photo taken as a quick snap from our window as they grazed outside.

They range far and wide, covering just about all of our 23 acres and also grazing on neighbouring farmland. We didn't see them at all for a couple of days but then they reappeared.

The barn owlets are developing well and the first fledging is expected in around ten days.

To exit the nest box they need to be able to fly up to the exit hole which is about 60cm above the floor of the box. The box depth is calculated so as to be difficult for them to exit before 56 days old. This is because if they leave the box too early, before they are good enough at flying to get back to the nest box, they will starve. Barn owl parents do not feed their young on the ground, they feed only those in or on the box. (This is different to tawny owls who find their young and feed them wherever they are).

The eldest owlet will be 56 days old just nine days from now. Expect to see a lot of wing exercising and attempted flying between now and then. Already I've seen the eldest one leave the bottom of the box briefly by flapping its wings.

This female barn owl had been quite wet and bedraggled earlier in the morning, following hunting in the rain to feed her young. Then she emerged from the box to shake and rearrange her now dry but perhaps rather matted feathers.

Two young red deer stags were standing in one of our ponds drinking. This was 9:20 p.m. so the natural light photo is of lower quality than it might have been in bright daylight.

Generally, other than during the rutting season, red deer have separate herds for the males and females. Around here we usually see a female herd (which may include some male young) up up to about 17 individuals. To see two stags together has been unusual here.

A summer sighting of a female black redstart, a bird that has previously visited us in the winter yet is not expected here at any time of year.

A black redstart was noted here in Dec-Jan 2023. I photographed a female black redstart again today in our farmyard and in a bush about 30m from the buildings.

The four barn owlets seems to be thriving and active.

These barn owlets now range in age from 4 weeks down to 19 days. They are beginning to replace their down with feathers. e.g. look at the video at about 12 seconds in.

The fourth and youngest is not so visible early in the video - it tends to keep underneath its siblings, perhaps for warmth as it is still not fully covered in down. Later in the video it is away from the others and easier to see.

For a month we've been observing a male Canada goose patrolling all around the area of this pond, even walking up and down a field over 50 yards away to block cattle from coming near.

The nest was hard to spot but a couple of weeks ago we got glimpse between strands of tall grass of the white breast of the goose on the far edge of the pond.

We thought they were due to hatch and yesterday the goose left the nest and was swimming in the pond. This afternoon she brought six goslings into the pond with her.

All four eggs hatched, and all four owlets are being fed by the parents. They have all turned white and fluffy, having been naked and pink initially.

The male barn owl is still not very reliable at hunting for them, occasionally not turning up at all and some nights only bringing 2-3 voles (and other nights bringing 10 or more).

The female sometimes also goes out hunting at dusk and/or at dawn, but that is higher risk because in daylight predators may attack either her or the owlets in the box. Again this morning she was chased back to the box by a magpie trying to steal her prey.

The second photo of her with prey was from 06:22 yesterday.

Distinguishing male and female barn owls is difficult from afar, and can still be difficult when closer.

Typically males are a bit smaller than females. Looking at the two photos of our pair taken at the same time, the one closest to the camera looks slightly larger whichever side you look from, i.e. they are both about the same size.

The is male is typically paler than the female, but that is not always so and in this pair the male (on the left) is only slightly paler. e.g. look at the cheek colouring.

Small black spots on the thighs and underwing are more common in females and few or absent in males. It isn't obvious in this view but the male (on the left) has no such white spots, and the female (on the right) has some but not as many as may often occur in females.

Other birds sometimes attack barn owls to try to steal their prey. Perhaps it is easier to do that than to catch prey themselves. Kestrels do that, sometimes successfully.

Here we see our nesting barn owl male mobbed by magpies as he returns to the nest box with a vole. He evaded them and dashed into the box to hand the prey to the female who needs food to feed to the four small owlets. For several minutes afterwards they both sounded warning hisses and the magpies went away and didn't return. But now the magpies know where they are so may make other attempts in future.

Watch the video on YouTube.