The Long-eared owls here are currently hunting voles over our land to feed their chicks.
We leave large parts of our grassland uncut, while other patches we mow short. This ‘mosaic of sward height’ provides wonderful vole habitat, which in turn enables the owls to raise their families. A successful nesting owl becomes a returning owl, year after year.
Over the last month the adult Long-eared owls have been hunting all around our caravan, affording great views from the caravan windows.
Here are the photos we took over the last few days.
The young owls have now left the nest and move from branch to branch, becoming known as ‘branchers’.
The branchers sometimes fall to the ground, but soon climb back up the tree.
They become very vocal in the evenings begging for food (letting out a repetitive high pitched call) to let the parents know where they are.
So, this is the third species of owl family we have provided the correct habitat and land management for; and in return we have been thrilled by them in 2022.
Now, to keep an eye out for Ural owl (they have been attacking folks nearby!) and Pygmy owl (they are resident and breeding here but being very secretive this year).
The Short-eared owl pair migrated to our site as they have every year but views were sporadic as the Long-eared were a little aggressive!
We offer a limited number of small group private guided tours (with or without accommodation) by contacting us at
swedenfishingandbirding@gmail.com