Owls, owls and more owls!
It seems 2026 has been a good year for owls breeding, but during the last few weeks, nearly all my calls have been for owls.
On 4th September Anita called me to say she'd found a young barn owl on the ground where she keeps her horse. Sadly I found two very thin young barn owls, one 200g and the other 230g. Both should have weighed around 350g for their age of around 2 months old. Another bigger and more developed sibling was still high up in the box.
Although both were given the same treatment, the smaller one (we named Sprite) started with breathing difficulties on the 7th September and although I took him straight to my vets, he sadly passed away.
The brother, Soda, is doing incredibly well and has been in my outdoor aviary since the 11th September, building strength and learning to hunt. He now weighs 354g and plans are being made for soft release.
I give the birds that are here a long time names, not to humanise them, it just helps me remember who was whooooooo!
8th September: Rachael, a vet at the Ralph Veterinary Hospital saw a tawny owl in the road, thought it was dead, but went back to check. Thank goodness she did as "Pugwash" was still alive but in a very bad way. Rachael took the owl to her friend and fellow vet and contacted me in the morning. Thanks to Adele for taking such good care of him over night.
The owl was showing signs of head trauma and spent quite a few days with balance issues. He's come a long way and I can't thank Rachael and Adele for their continued input and help with the owl and also to the Ralph for the consultation. Prognosis is uncertain at the moment, but as you can see, he's currently a very different owl to when he came in.
14th September I made a very sad, long trip to Borehamwood for a tawny owl that had been found trapped in barbwire by its wing. The finder couldn't find anyone local to help him. It took quite a while to get the owl out of the fencing and sadly due to the horrific injuries, it was put to sleep by my very kind vets. Thank to Reed Vets for seeing me so quickly.
17th September: I had a call from Michelle VN at Beltempo Vets in Sandy. Two men out walking their dog has found a barn owl on the ground in woods and had taken it straight to the vets. The vet found a huge tick attached to the eyelid of the owl and promptly removed it and gave the owl fluids. This is another skinny bird (230g), but over a year old. It has a horrendous black eye, due to the reaction of the tick bite and was wobbly and mouth breathing.
Jump forward a few days and with warmth, fluids, pain relief and gentle nutrition "Bailey" (keeping the drinks theme going), is so much stronger and picked up his first self fed tiny meal last night. Thank you to Beltempo Vets and everyone involved in helping this owl.
And lastly, this morning I had a call from a lovely landowner to say he'd found a young barn owl on the ground. He didn't think he should pick it up, so left it and went back to his house and called me. Although I got there promptly and looked for over an hour, sadly I couldn't find the owlet.
Barn owls do not feed their young if they fall from the nest area and usually intervention is needed, but please ask a wildlife centre for advice BEFORE you take the owl away.
Thank you to Adele, Rachael, Anita and Chris for the donations. I'm really running up quite a large food bill at the moment. There is a "donate" button on the page, if you'd like to put a few pennies in the "larder fund".
Comments can be left below. Jo
Wow, that is a lot of owls! I hope you are taking care of yourself - the losses are hard but so many successes. Good job.
Doing amazing things for our wonderful wildlife as always.
Thank you Jo x