Yellowhammer on the menu!

 Little Owls will usually nest in hollow trees, holes and burrows and when building boxes for them, ones with a corridor leading to a nesting chamber seem to work best. We were very surprised to find a Little Owl's nest in the corner of the workshop at Lodge Farm, Westhorpe with only a bale of wood shavings to keep it protected. It was only the keen nose of Brian's dog which brought it to our attention and now, two healthy chicks are almost ready to fledge. I have ringed the chicks so if we come across them we will  know that they are our workshop owls. They are quite mobile now and yesterday they had left the nest which gave me an opportunity to analyse what they have been eating. In the nest was evidence of beetles, ladybirds, the usual favorite foods along with worms and large insects. There was also jaw bones from 3 short tailed voles and a house mouse. The most surprising remains were of a young blackbird and an adult yellowhammer. The were alot of part grown black feathers from the blackbird and the Yellowhammer's wing and tail. The wear on the primary wing and tail feathers indicate that the bird was an adult. Although it is not possible to tell whether the bird was caught alive or scavenged already dead it certainly gave the 2 chicks a good feast. PJB

The contents of the Little Owl Nest