Courteenhall Estate in Northamptonshire is working hard to encourage more owls to make the estate their home.
This year they have installed lots of new owl boxes to add to the ones they have previously installed and the more general bird boxes they make themselves at Courteenhall.
They seem to be popular, and the 351-year-old Estate is really delighted to have evidence of their occupation already.
Out of four new Barn Owl boxes, three are in regular use and there will be checks being carried out on two new Tawny Owl boxes early in the New Year just before any new inhabitants start breeding.
Courteenhall Estate work closely with Chris Payne, a licensed Senior Ringer & Trainer for Northants Ringing Group (NRG), to carry out regular audits of its bird populations, to do specialised ringing and to help them to understand what they can do to increase their bird numbers.
Chris said: “On my first winter visit to Courteenhall, in two of the Barn Owl boxes, there was great evidence of Barn Owls using both. One of the boxes had a few Little Owl pellets inside too.
“I’ve just been on my second visit to check the other two new Barn Owl boxes and was really pleased that we managed to ring our first Courteenhall Barn Owl who was roosting in one of the boxes.
“This beautiful female is a good weight at 300g, her plumage is absolutely immaculate and, as I found out, she has needle sharp talons!
“She sat tight, back in her box after I had carefully ringed, weighed and measured her, waiting for daylight to drop before foraging for more food.”
Dr Johnny Wake, Managing Partner of Courteenhall Farms, said: “We’re delighted with our growing owl population. Ringing is important because it allows us to build up a general picture of movement in and around the estate and beyond. It’s even more effective when adjoining landowners do the same and put up owl boxes too.
“We’ll be keeping an eye on all the owl boxes at Courteenhall over the next month or two and before the breeding season starts.”
Courteenhall Estate is a family estate owned since 1672 by the Wake family in the heart of the South Northamptonshire countryside.
