Wednesday morning of last week, an irate thrush alerted me to this owl sat minding its own business in a tree in Grin Wood.



Thursday afternoon, giving the dog a last walk before we set off for Clumber Park, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a small white ball against the base of a tree close to where the owl had been the day before. It turned out to be this



while higher in the tree, in what appeared to be a nest site sat an adult.



I sincerely hope this young one survives. It was in the full sun and rather obvious, so I placed some large logs between it and the footpath so that other passers by would not see it. I have only just got home and haven't had chance to go back and check on it yet.

This post was last modified: 12-05-2008 06:14 PM by wild canon.

nice shots there richard, i hope the little one is ok!

Just returned from the woods, no sign of the owl chick, no sounds of it calling to be fed, and the logs that I placed have been moved. The chick has either been predated or some well-meaning but ignorant (I don't mean that in the derogatory sense) person has picked it up thinking it abandoned.

Is it using an old crows nest?

Heres hoping someone hasnt taken it, but so many people think its the right thing to do !

If the logs have been moved it has probably been taken unfortunately. I can understand why someone would pick it up, but I hope the rescue place they take it too tell them not to do it again.

I've contacted the local paper, and they are putting a short missive from me in this week's edition, including the photo of the chick. Hopefully, it'll sink in.

I don't think so. The site is very close to the footpath and I'd have noticed if crows were nesting there in past years.

Some good news today. No further sight of the chick that was on the ground, but where yesterday there was this:


today there were these:


Either there were 3 chicks originally, or the chick that was on the ground managed to get back to the nest site (unlikely). Sorry it's such a poor pic, but even at ISO 1600, I was only getting 1/30th sec shutter speed, which hand held on a 400mm lens is not ideal for sharp pictures.

Lots of swifts flying in the piece of sky I can see from my office window at this moment.

This post was last modified: 15-05-2008 09:17 AM by wild canon.

Brilliant pics. I have a tawny owl roosting in my garden making use of tree cover which I only planted in 2000. It is very easy to see as it sits on a branch at head height and allows me to get quite close to it. At dusk I can usually see it perched on a telegraph pole close by while it scans around prior to flying off for the night. Wonderful birds!

The news is good for the 2 chicks that were still in the nest, they've fledged and now I hear and - if I've got the night scope with me - see them in the trees calling to be fed.

Also, I found 2 GSW nests and each has had a chick fledge, sadly I didn't get any pics this year.

Brilliant pics
young tawny owls are notorious for going on a wander - I've seen pre-fledged birds go to completely different trees from where the nest was.

Let's hope it made it back to the nest!

good news is your tawnies have bred at a sensible time of year - they often breed very early in the year with sad consequences - the young chicks often don't survive the weather ( I do think that this is partly due to the fact that they don't stay put in the nest plus difficulties for the parents to obtain food in inclement weather)

It's good news so far with the tawny owl chicks. I have seen them flying around in the evenings and they are very vocal, calling for food. Photographed this one yesterday evening at about 9.15.