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The Tawny owls around the farm have been calling like crazy in the evenings recently, so hopefully we should have a quite a few breeding this year! There is one owl in particular that we are all really interested in.
The young tawny was brought here by one of the guys from Blair Drummond Falconry Centre in early August and to be honest, it appeared fairly imprinted on man – so I was a bit worried, although we do quite a bit of rehab work with the Scottish SPCA. It spent a few weeks in one of our rehabilitation aviaries…. having no human contact. I ringed and released the bird and hoped its natural instincts to hunt live prey would kick in! As you can imagine, it lacks a certain fear of man and spends most of its time hunting mice around the farm steading, but at least it’s back in the wild. I took the attached picture back in October and the bird was in great condition. After months surviving on its own, it’s safe to assume its return to the wild has been a success!!
Many birds have been suffering during this cold snap, with Barn Owls hit particularly badly. Although we haven’t found any dead barn owls on the farm itself, it has not been the same elsewhere. In recent winters the BTO typically receive 30-40 dead Barn Owl reports in December, but in 2010 the December total has topped 100…..so far January is also looking fairly grim!!
Snow cover makes it especially difficult for Barn Owls to find the small mammals on which they prey. As such, they are more vulnerable during periods of prolonged snow than many other species. This winter there have been many reports of Barn Owls out hunting during the day, even in such odd places as supermarket car parks and this is presumably because they have not been able to find enough food elsewhere.
Unlike many areas of Britain our 2010 Barn Owl productivity was high, with 15 chicks fledging on the farm. Lets hope that those adults who do manage to survive this cold winter aren’t in poor condition at the start of the breeding season and manage to fledge young….fingers crossed!
On a recent trip to our hide, two of our visitors had learnt about the importance of wing-tag sightings for the ongoing monitoring of red kite populations throughout the UK. As dedicated kite enthusiasts, they had been to see kites at various locations around Britain and on many occasions had taken photographs. A few days later we received a picture that had been taken at Cors Caron, Tregaron in Wales on 6th February 2010. Initially it was thought to be one of ours (Red/Red = Central Scotland 2003), but on the computer screen the photo was quite dark. After enlarging and lightened the image it was actually Orange/Orange, which would initially suggest it’s from North Yorkshire 2005…..or so we thought!
After contacting the Yorkshire Red Kite Co-ordinator it was discovered that a few of their 2005 birds went to Wales not long after they fledged. One of them was found poisoned near Knighton in Powys in 2006, but they had heard no more about the others and this record was a welcome indication that one of them was alive and well in 2010. If confirmed, this was to be the first record of a Yorkshire bird breeding in Wales.
In one final twist of the ‘tail’ we were then contacted by a Consultant Ornithologist from the Welsh Kite Trust with the news that this was almost certainly a Welsh bird after all. In September 2009, a rehabilitation kite that had recovered from a minor wing injury was released at that exact location. The bird was originally ringed in June 1989, but in the intervening 20 years it had lost both its wing-tags. At that stage, the bird was already a record breaker and was just over the known British longevity record for a wild red kite, at 20 years 1 month old! Before release, the kite was re-tagged with its original colour-scheme (Orange/Orange R) to see how much longer it would last! The kite was again positively identified at the same site on 1st February that very year. In all probability, this photograph now appears to be of this very special red kite, which at that point was 21 years and 7 months old! The oldest recorded wild red kite ever was a German bird at 25 years and 5 months……fingers crossed this one beats it!!
This amazing story, involving kites workers in Scotland, England and Wales demonstrates that the success of wing-tag monitoring is really enhanced by you guys reporting sightings such as this, so any photo’s are really appreciated!
Mike
We have recently been contacted by JORVIK Viking Centre in York wanting a casualty red kite for a taxidermy specimen to be used in one of their new exhibitions.
Apparently they have welcomed 15 million visitors over the past 25 years. The main theme is the reconstruction of Viking-Age streets, as they would have been in the year AD975. There is no doubt that that during these times, the red kite was a common and familiar bird throughout Britain. I know it’s a shame, but a kite that had to be put to sleep recently by the Scottish SPCA has been donated by us. We are glad it will find a final resting place and will be used for the purpose of education.
As we welcome in a new year – and we hope it is a happy one for you all – here are some memories of summer to cheer us up as we struggle still with winter ice! The kite flying free again after having been rescued and provided with a new tail was a particularly wonderful moment.
As mentioned recently, many of our kites have been wandering near the coast in search of snow free land to hunt over!! Red/Blue 42 (a 2010 chick from the farm) was handed in to the Scottish SPCA on New years eve having been found grounded. The bird turned up at Port Patrick near Stranraer, having spent all of November at Argaty…..it’s travelled about 129 miles at least! The bird appears to be ok…… simply struggling in these harsh conditions. It is in their aviary now and hopefully in a week or so will be ready for release! 
Many thanks to Ken McChesney for the photo (taken in November, before the snow!!)
STOP PRESS: Please see the picture sequence (below) of the Scottish SPCA releasing Red/Blue 42 back into the wild here at Argaty on Wednesday 19th January! It had recovered well after plenty of tlc at the Wildlife Rescue Centre, although any respectable kite doesn’t like being brought home in the back of a van!
argatyredkites
tombowseruk
Mike
