Barn owl success
At WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre this year, we’re delighted to see that the Barn Owls are having a great year. This year the reserve is home to three breeding pairs (6 adults) which are nesting in boxes that we’ve provided for them. Not only have we got three pairs, but between them they have managed to hatch 9 chicks which are all looking healthy and due to fledge over the coming weeks.
When hunting, the parents cache or store food in the boxes so that the female has a constant supply of food to feed the chicks. On inspection when we’ve been attaching small coded rings to the legs of the chicks, it appears that all three pairs are finding good amounts of food, as we’re seeing good sized caches of small rodents such as Field Mouse and Bank Voles in the boxes. No doubt the good weather we’ve been having over the past few weeks has allowed the adult birds to find food without any problems, using the fields that we manage on the reserve to their advantage as small mammals seek cover from the large grasping talons of the Barn Owls!
Thanks to our licenced Monitoring team, we’ve been able to document the breeding season of the Barn Owls and we’ve also taken a sample of pellets (undigested feathers, fur and bones that can’t be digested through the owls stomach, instead are formed into pellets which are coughed up) to see the amount of species that they have been eating. From this we can see that they have mainly been feeding on the Field Mouse, but we’ve also found that they have been eating frogs too!
Reserve Manger, Tom Clare, said: “Sometimes, if we’re lucky enough we can see the adult Barn Owls hunting during the day – which are giving great views to our visitors and we see lots of postings on social media. So why don’t you come on down and see whether you can spot one of the adults busily going about finding food, for the next generation of Martin Mere’s Barn Owls!”
WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre is open every day (except Christmas Day) from 9.30am to 6pm and parking is free of charge. Situated off the A59, it is signposted from the M61, M58 and M6. The Centre is also accessible via the Southport to Manchester and the Liverpool to Preston line by train from Burscough Rail Stations. Visit the web site http://www.wwt.org.uk/martinmere/ to find out what’s on all year round at Martin Mere and the other eight WWT Wetland Centres.
