Broxton Barn Owl Group Newsletter December 2011Broxton Barn Owl Group December 2011 News items to...

Broxton Barn Owl Group December 2011

News items to BWW at: - 1 - [email protected]

Broxton Barn Owl Group Newsletter December 2011

Getting Involved…… & check out the web site to stay in touch - www.bbog.co.uk. If you are reading this then you probably support the BBOG at least financially and as the treasurer can I thank you for that. Your contributions are necessary, usefully employed and much needed. Can I just introduce you to some of the other activities that you can, should you wish to, get involved in. The assembly of the pre-cut boxes is done over a couple of nights at Meadow bank Farm. If you have access to some basic tools including an electric drill/ screwdriver then you will be made to feel most welcome by a friendly bunch of people. We normally work in pairs with an expert, Les, on hand to keep us all on the straight and narrow. A couple of hours will be enough for a box, tea and biscuits are provided. As in all things many hands make light work and everyone seems to enjoy themselves. At a later date, normally on a Saturday morning, we paint the boxes. This really needs to be done during daylight and provides an excuse for a pub lunch afterwards. Box erection and maintenance is not for everyone, the work being quite physical and the weather is not always dry and warm. There is quite a bit of camaraderie within and healthy rivalry between the two teams that do this work. One thing you will almost certainly discover are bits of Cheshire you never knew existed. I certainly have visited some really off the beaten track and wonderful meres, mosses, woods and gardens. Once again spare hands and muscles are always needed. Finally and for some the cherry on the cake is to go out with one of the ringers. Seeing adult and young barn owls or indeed kestrels, jackdaws etc up close is a real thrill and privilege. Just remember, and the ringers will remind you, it is not a side show, the birds welfare always comes first. I got involved with the BBOG a couple of years ago via a friend. I was “conned” into doing all of the above and can honestly say I’ve met some lovely people and all the activities are rewarding and satisfying in their own way. If you fancy helping out contact Caroline Jones or myself at the AGM or by phone. Roy Baron (Treasurer) PS your annual subscription is now due! …..and I know where you live !!



Eric hawkeye Baker ………….And the constant hunt for poles (telegraph ~ not mittle-european) If you have travelled the A534 to Wrexham recently you will have encountered the earth ramparts erected to prevent you getting into this Welsh border town. The new approach roads to the industrial estate have meant that several telegraph poles have been bull-dozed under by the construction team. Eric spotted that some still protruded ( by about ten feet) above the new ground level. He silver tongued the site manager to pull these out and donate them to us. He led a team of himself, Chris Whitehurst, Steven Prince and Bernard Wright to recover these from the WW1 trenches and bear them across the border to our stock pile at Meadow Bank. After de-cluttering and cutting to size it gave us an additional stock of seven good poles. What we’ve been up to since the December 2010 Newsletter A freezing, snowy December 27th witnessed a brave group doing their best to work off at least some of the Christmas pudding and other goodies eaten over the festive period. We met at Blakemere Craft Centre for a 3 ml walk in sub zero temperatures and lots of snow.

Binoculars were a must for the good numbers of wintering birds on the mere including; Gt Crested Grebe, Gadwall, hundreds of Coots and a magnificent group of swans. On our return, having walked off some of the Christmas calories, we promptly put some back on in the restaurant carvery!!



The Dinner By way of a late New Year Celebration, (in February) a group of 26 members enjoyed a superb candelabra dinner at Peckforton Castle. Mr Naylor,the Owner, gave an interesting talk about the history of Peckforton Castle and the plans he and his son Chrishave for the future. A raffle of all sorts of goodies provided a further £60.00 for the BBOG coffers!! March was a busy month with box manufacturing and painting over 3 Thursday evenings and a Saturday morning – we treated ourselves to an excellent lunch at the Carden Arms to celebrate a massive 31 boxes ready to go onto new sites and/or replace those which are falling to bits … not that the owls seem to mind what state they are in!!



We now have 405 boxes in our area of West Cheshire!!! A Farm Visit and a Walk On 19th March a group of 14 members met up at the Cock O’Barton for coffee, followed by a farm visit across the road to Higher Farm where Graham and Phil talked about their farm and its diversification. We also met the bull who “helped” Bernard with ringing the previous season!!!!



Bernard then led a 3 hour walk around the Broxton area which provided an interesting mix, passing several active barn owl breeding sites and a number of different habitats - moving from improved grassland (Cheshire’s green desert) through farmland unchanged in a hundred years and more with classic ridge and furrow. Copses with nesting buzzard, farmland birds, spring migrants, swans and grey lag geese. Though red kite had been seen in this area in the past – they were elusive on this particular route!! After the walk we called back at the Cock O’Barton for a well earned drink and tasty meal. Late March saw the annual trek up to the top of Beeston Castle for those BBOG Members involved in Peregrine Watch. The weather was great and a couple of dozen people enjoyed a brisk walk to the top to see the layout of the castle and see the potential “danger spots” where the scallies may try and enter the castle and gain access to the nesting area. We came back down via the woodland walk to the sound of Chiff Chaffs and Great Spotted Woodpeckers hammering out their



tunes.

The peregrines were on the crag, and during April laid four eggs. The behavior of the adult birds this year was very different from last year and we all had great hopes of the eggs hatching any time after the 8th May. Sadly, on the evening of 6th May following a period of aerial dispute during the afternoon, the ravens raided the peregrine nest site and removed all four eggs. The watch was, therefore, suspended ... very disappointing after last year’s failure. But, we are ever hopeful for 2012 ... when we hope the success of 2009 will be repeated. Can you help?? We are still trying to put together a list of members who would be willing to “man the BBOG stand” at various events throughout 2012. These are usually at weekends and



it’s a good opportunity to meet new people with similar interests and spread the word about the good work we do for the owls at BBOG. You don’t need to be an “authority” on owls as there would be someone from the working group to give support until you gained confidence. If you can help and would like to get involved, do give Caroline a call or drop her an email. Report 2011 Summary of Breeding Survey

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 Barn Owls: West cheshire pulli ringed 116 97 127 61 165 14 130 74 68 53 16 16 Total nest sites 38 41 43 28 35 5 38 36 31 25 12 6 Pulli /nest 2.3 3 2.2 4.7 2.8 3.4 2.0 2.2 2.1 1.3 2.6 *Total no Boxes 326 303 270 227 194 178 132 112 Barn owl pulli unringed (estim)

6 ?7+ ? 40+ ? 36+ 38+ 32+ 30

adults ringed 23 12 12 12 17 18 13 7 10 (3) 1 adults retrapped / recovered

14 26 22 20 10 6 9 6 3 0

Tree nest sites 2 4 3 7

South Cheshire pulli 36 29 25 15 51 16 12 11 11 2 adults 3 2 0 0 1 - 1 4 0 2 nest sites 14 13 8 6 9 4 4 Pulli/nest 2.2 3 2.5 5.7 4.0 3.0 Total pulli rung 152 126 152 76 216 30 142 85 79 55 16 16 TOTAL NEST SITES

54 41 37 51 9 42

Other Species: Kestrel pulli ringed

28 48 25 59 17 59 35 9 24 8 7

Kestrel adults ringed

2 6 0 3 1 2 0 0 1

Kestrel breeding sites

11 11 8 17 7 17 11 4 6 4 3

Kestrel pulli/nest 3 4.4 3.1 3.5 2.4 3.5 3.2 2.3 4.0 2.0 2.3 Stock doves Lots

more !

Lots! 1 2

Little Owl pulli 0 7 5 3 3



Tawny Owl 3 pulli 1A retrap 1A

3 3 pulli 1adult

1 1 2

Bookings for the meal to Gill Ellison – 01829 782693 – see separate sheet for menu and details. Booking for all other events, Caroline Jones – 07899984787 01829 781495 [email protected]

Broxton Barn Owl Annual Dinner

BROXTON BARN OWL EVENTS FOR 2012 Date/Venue

Event

24th February 19.30 Peckforton Castle, Stonehouse Lane, Near Chester, CW6 9TN

Post Christmas Meal

10th March 10.30 Meet at Nags Head CW6 9RN

Walk around Haughton

13th & 20th March 1900 Meadow Bank Farm

Kestrel/tawny box construction workshop

24th March 1000 Meadow Bank Farm Carden Arms for lunch

Box painting followed by lunch

June, July and August – various locations Observing/helping with ringing owls, kestrels etc.

4th August 10.30 Meet at Grosvenor Arms CH3 6HJ

A summer stroll around Aldford

25th September 19.30 Meadow Bank Farm

Season data review Guest speaker Chris Whitehurst Wildlife around Chidlow

End September, October, early November Box repairs and replacements 27th December 10.30 Meet at The Fox & Hounds, Tilston SY14 7HB

Post Christmas Walk around Shocklach



Friday, 24 February 2012

PECKFORTON CASTLE

Stone House Lane, Peckforton, Cheshire CW6 9TN TEL: 01829 260930

Arrival at 7.30pm in the Hexagonal Room

Drinks (cash bar and for wine orders in the room)

8pm - dinner served

Starters

Oven roasted plum tomato soup with pesto and rocket The Castle’s chicken liver parfait with cognac and Madeira, red onion marmalade and toasted

brioche

Main Course

Pot roast chicken, button onions, mushrooms, red wine and parsley served with seasonal vegetables and roast potatoes

Pan roasted Salmon fillet sautéed potato, dill and white wine sauce

Goat’s cheese and sun blush tomato savoury brioche torte topped with roasted artichoke and served with sauté new potato (v)

Desserts

Bramley apple charlotte with blackberry and toffee ice cream

A selection of British and continental cheeses with biscuits and chutney

Coffee Cost will be £22 per person (same as last year). Payment by cheque made out to Majorstage Limited and posted to Gill Ellison, Barnhill House, Withy Lane, Broxton, Cheshire, CH3 9JP to arrive no later than 14 February 2012 please. Tel: 01829 782693. Choices of menu with each person’s name to be confirmed to Gill Ellison by email [email protected] no later than Tuesday, 14 February 2012. Tables for 8 or 10 – if you have people you wish to sit next to please give me the names and I will try to put you all together – however, can’t promise as need to fill all the tables with even numbers ideally. If you have any raffle prizes you wish to donate please let me know! Many thanks, Gill.



BROXTON BARN OWL GROUP

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL / APPLICATION FORM

2011

TO: Chris Whitehurst Membership Sec. Broxton Barn Owl Group

Felsted, 4 Well Farm Close, Malpas, Cheshire, SY14 8QW. Tel 01948 860333 e-mail: [email protected]

I/We would like to join / renew membership of the Group and enclose my/our donation of £10.00 each (minimum suggested contribution) [per household £12 if you prefer] Please make cheques payable to Broxton Barn Owl Group Name(s): ................................................................................ Address: ...................................................................

...................................................................

...................................................................

.......................................................... Post Code:... .......................................................... Tel. No: ……………………………………….

e-mail:…………………………………………………………….

Where did you hear about the Broxton Barn Owl Group from?:

A friend

The Web Site www.bbog.co.uk

Newspaper / Magazine article

A member

Other (please specify)

How do we spend your Donation? We are in constant receipt of requests for new Barn Owl boxes to be erected across our area, and

lately we are seeing an increase in requests for Tawny Owl or Kestrel Boxes to be added to our

total stock

The individuals making the request are nearly always happy to cover the cost of the production

and installation operations.

With around 410 boxes on our patch, some of which have now been out there for more than 15

years, we are starting to see a growing need for repair or replacement. The questionable quality

of the materials of late, is also unexpectedly adding to this replacement demand.

Whilst the costs of any new installations are obviously covered, our essential replacement

programme needed to sustain the current levels of Barn Owl Breeding pairs we have achieved

since formation in 1995 is not.

The cost of these boxes (usually around £80 to construct) has to be borne by the donations /

membership fees we receive.

The BBOG committee is exercising strict control over expenditure on anything that is not

directly related to the Barn Owls well being and proliferation. An example of this is the recent

move to communicate electronically with members through e-mail and the web site in order to

reduce or eliminate postage costs.

All our field active working group members, wave sundry expense charges, freely give huge

amounts of their time, and even support the clubs activities by paying a membership

subscription.

Whilst I understand that due to other priorities, the majority of BBOG members are unable to be

directly involved in activities on a weekly basis, you can support the club’s activities in a vital

way by continuing with your membership/financial support for 2012.

Chris Whitehurst

Membership Secretary

Membership Subscriptions/Donations are now due for 2012 Just a reminder that your subscription / donation to support the Cheshire Barn Owls

sustainability in 2012 is now due… for audit purposes by 14th

February please.

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