Day of the long ears

I went out to a number of locations around the Washburn and Nidd valleys on Sunday helping Wharfedale and Calderdale Wild Bird Ringing Group.

I get to climb trees and handle fantastic owl chicks while my friends ring them in order to monitor their movements for the British Trust for Ornithology. All in the name of science.

Our best "haul" of the day was a nest containing four Long-eared owl chicks.


Long-eared owl chicks. Photo by Sean Gray.

Hoping for Barn owls, we also found a Kestrel, a Tawny owl, a Mandarin duck and a squatting Grey squirrel (which we evicted) in nest boxes erected by the group.

A Tawny owl photographed by Sean Gray. Please visit his fantastic site at Grayimages.