The Lincolnshire Bird Club

just decided to take a drive down to Nocton Fen/Wasps Nest to have a look out for owls, especially if the pair of Little Owls on the traditional barn, had in fact been a breeding pair. I was horrified when we got to said barn to see the roof had been ripped off. Do any of the regular birders for that patch have any clues as yo the fate of the Little Owls?

Andrew

Andrew,

A rave took place in that barn earlier this year and the owl boxes were deliberately damaged. I have found little owls at two other barns on the fen this summer, but only accessible, with consent, from farm roads.

John

Thanks John. We were saddened by the destruction of this site and worried about whereabouts of this pair of LO's. Hopefully, the other sites will have a little more protection.

Andrew

Please note that I was contacted by the Estate prior to the start of works.

I checked the nest boxes and bat boxes (under licence from Natural England) prior to the start of the works.

The estate is keen to maintain the owl population on site, and I have been working with them to ensure that there is no inadvertent breach of the legislation that protects both schedule 1 species of birds and European protected species within the buildings.

This is on-going work, and I hope I can report back on progress over the next few months...

Andrew Chick

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

Update: Nocton Fen

The open fronted building (with the missing roof and known locally as Bridge Farm), located on Nocton Fen (National Grid Reference TF 11415 66922) has now been deemed unsafe after further structural damage and vandalism. This is the building mentioned in Andrew Vaughan original post.

People familiar with the site will be aware that until last year little owls had successfully bred in this building (within owl boxes supplied and monitored by Mr Alan Ball and Mr Bob Sheppard), but failed in 2015 due to disturbance.

At the request of the estate, I inspected the building at the end of February 2016 and the two owl boxes were removed under licence. I understand that the remains of the building will be demolished in the near future.

I am working closely with the estate (Beeswax Farming) to ensure that the conservation of owl species continues across their farms, and can assure concerned birders that they are installing more owl nest boxes (4 installed since Christmas and 6 programmed to be installed over the next two weeks) than they are removing. My initial impression is that they are keen to promote wildlife, and to date have been proactive in implementing conservation initiatives.

If you have any questions regarding this specific site, please contact me direct….

Andrew

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

Update: Nocton Barn.

Today (24/01/2017) the rubble was removed from the site of the old ‘rave’ barn.

Prior to the removal of the rubble a selection of the larger pieces of concrete was incorporated into the earth bank and TWO little owl nestboxes were placed within the 'feature' with gaps to allow the birds easy access, but prevent predation from foxes etc... It is hoped that the little owls will adopt this new feature and nest again this year?

Since the ‘rave’ barn was demolished the birds have remained within the general area, showing how site faithful these birds are even when the building was removed! I will monitor the site this year to see how successful this initiative has been….

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/