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

Unfortunately we have lost the youngest owlet, the one that hatched last Sunday. This morning the female owl pulled out the small corpse from underneath her. So now there are five.

Fortunately in this area there is a plentiful prey for them, and the male is hunting well and bringing prey to the female and the young. They should not suffer shortage of food which may otherwise be a common problem.

Of course this is how nature works. Our survival record has been good in the past, with four eggs in 2023 and 2025 (no nesting in 2024), and four hatchings led to four successful fledgings in each case. (The typical survival rate from hatching to fledging is more like 40-50%)

• 2023 fledglings
• 2025 fledglings

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…

2023 has been a successful year for our barn owls.

The pair settled into the box earlier in the year. Four eggs were laid, four eggs all hatched, and four owlets all grew and fledged. They are pictured here just after the youngest of them finally grew strong enough to fly up from the bottom of the deep nest box to get out of the entrance hole.

This success is despite the male seemingly not being a very diligent provider and rarely bringing prey for the young, with the burden of the feeding falling on the female.