Raptors, owls and other goodies...

Salisbury Plain ~ 15th June 2014 ~ 

On Sunday I had the opportunity to go out with a small group of other bird ringers onto Salisbury Plain to check some bird boxes and see if anything was nesting in them. We checked about 8 different boxes and most had something using them. It was a fantastic day with excellent company and not only did I get to handle 5 new species: Tawny Owl, Barn Owl, Kestrel, Jackdaw and Stock Dove, but I also saw my very first Montagu's Harrier, plus it was a male which made it even more special.

Many thanks to those who made it such a great day, and thanks again for inviting me!

My totals for the day were as follows (re-traps are in brackets):

Tawny Owl 4
Barn Owl 3
Kestrel 2
Swallow 2
Jackdaw 1
Stock Dove (1)

Here are a few of the photos that I took:

3 of the 4 chicks from the first brood of Tawny Owls that we ringed.

A close up of the bird on the right in the image above.

One of the Tawny Owls from the second brood.

An almost full grown Barn Owl chick.

A not so full grown Barn Owl chick. From a different
brood to the one above.

A very fluffy Kestrel chick.

The whole chick from the image above.

One of 3 feisty Jackdaw chicks that we ringed.

3 of 4 chicks from one of the Swallow nests we checked.

As always, thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget you can 

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