Finished!

 

The last 2 nest boxes on the project, a Barn and Little Owl box earmarked for trees were installed on Wednesday. With Paul tied up with work, my cousin Jess, who was staying with us from Aus, stepped up.

Fantastic to have him back again and just like old times as the years dropped away, my old buddy was back, fantastic to see him.



Boxes – both went up to their respective trees very well, Jess doing most of the work naturally – age has its advantages.

First up was the Little Owl box, I had ordered this from the Barn Owl Trust, very well made and with Little Owls known to be in the vicinity, hopes are high for this. I am hoping that Grey Squirrels will not be a problem, we placed it a on a singular tree with bramble and reeds either side. 

With no tree connection either side to access it easily, hopefully the Squirrels will give it a miss.

Next up was Barnie tree box, the 2nd of the Barn Owl boxes, this was positioned to compliment last week’s pole box, around 100 metres from each other. The pole Barn Owl box already has an external occupant daily it seems, a male Kestrel is already using it to hunt and watch the ground below. There is a new Kestrel pole box around 300 metres away, so hopefully the Kessie can sort himself out and bond with the correct box!

Installation of the box was straightforward, prior to this, getting under an electric fence and across a flooded ditch was interesting but good fun.

                                                   Little Owl Box - very well made

                                                     Challenging getting to the tree

                            Both of us at Battersea Power Station laterin the week - more to come

With all the 6 boxes now erected, 2 Barn - 1 Little Owl and 3 Kestrel boxes, myself and Paul will be watching them as much as possible – “If you build it………………………………

Another 2.......

 

Paul and myself delivered and installed a Barn Owl and Kestrel box yesterday, the latest 2 pole boxes to go up as part of the ongoing project.

As you no doubt know, the weather on Saturday morning was awful, with a fairly strong wind as well, it made fixing,strutting and plumbing them a little challenging.

However very satisfying to see both up, despite a thorough soaking, as the weather eventually cleared a Kestrel starting hunting nearby so good signs already.

Just a Barn and Little Owl nestbox to finish off now, the remaining 2 are going in trees, hopefully placed during the week.

2 up - 4 to go.....

Following on from the previous post – New Project, Sunday saw myself, Paul and Mart, who had kindly offered to help, installing the 2 Kestrel boxes. Having 3 of us definitely made it a lot easier, still fairly hard work but a far lighter load with Mart aboard.

In 3 hours, we stood and postcreted both pole boxes in – 18 bags postcrete apiece, substrate added, finished digging a hole, the results look very inviting hopefully.

When I took the struts off on both Monday morning, a female Kestrel was present on both occasions in the vicinity, due to the distance from each other, I like to think separate birds.

However, time will tell and hopefully they will also provide hunting perches which in turn may lead to a connection to each box.

It may be that Stock Doves or even Jackdaws may take a shine to the boxes but hopefully the Kessie’s will get there first and bond to the nest box.

New Project

This has been in the pipeline for a few months, a number of nest boxes aimed at 3 species, Barn and Little Owl along with Kestrel.

In total

3 Kestrel Pole Boxes

1 Barn Owl Tree Box

1 Barn Owl Pole Box

1 Little Owl Tree Box



First up was 2 of the Kestrel Pole Boxes.

Paul/ myself and our Van driver Rowan, have started making inroads into getting everything ready, on Thursday we picked the timbers/postcrete up and located it to their respective fields.Not easy distributing it with the distance involved and the ground underfoot.

I had ordered 2 of the RSPB Kestrel boxes previously and these were connected up to their respective timbers.

Doubled up on treated 6x3’s with joining screws/bolts for posts, the plan now is to concrete them in on Sunday – more to come.

 

 

Beckton Latest - October

A good visit last weekend, it looks like the Common Buzzards on the Sewage Works have bred with 3 birds seen together interacting, I would say the 3rd bird was a juvenile. All 3 were given a torrid time by the local Crows and Magpies as you can see from the photos.

In amongst the Crows also, I came across a Rook, common in rural areas but a bit of a mega for the Sewage Works. It bought the year list up to 98, I try to make 100 every year, I have surpassed last years total of 95 so hopefully achievable this year.

The first returning Redshank was also seen last weekend,winter is on its way, no Black Tailed Godwits as yet.

Pied and Grey Wagtail numbers have gone through the roof on the Sewage Works with a count of 24 Greys recently, Pied’s are easily 40+.

 

Spain - Sea watching in the Med

Having had a good look at E Bird previously, I had discovered a sea watching venue not far down the coast, basically at La Cala, it was a hotspot as well so decided to give it a go.

Less than 10 minutes down the A7 saw me arriving Punta y Observatorio de Calaburras, a headland with a lighthouse nearby. Easy and accessible, with parking right next to where you watch from, I got in position and started a sea watch.

Winds were not ideal and not many species came to close, but all in all I thoroughly enjoyed it, beginning at 8.45a.m, I watched until 10.30a.m and recorded 18 species, highlights below.


Cory’s Shearwater – 31 – one or 2 relatively close but most far out.

Balearic Shearwater – 12 – again none close.

Sandwich Tern – 6

Whimbrel – 2

Audouins Gull – 1

Gannet – 6


I also recorded 2 Ringed and Kentish Plover on the beach, along with 6 Sanderlings, these gave very good views.
Lots more crossing further out but too far out to ID confidently.

                                                                Very distant Cory's

                                                                      Grey Herons

                                                 Kentish, Ringed Plover and Sanderlings

A good site and judging by some of the checklist totals on Ebird, fantastic numbers going through in the right conditions, another site to go to next year.