John Walshe from Suffolk Wildlife came to the Golf Centre to visit the Owl box above the 5th tee today (Sunday). Thank fully it was pouring down with rain so the owls were safely tucked up in their warm box. He found a 1 year old female and her 5 baby owls in the box, he ringed the female and will return to ring the babies in a month or so. This means last years female may well have died during the winter, it was by all accounts a bad winter for barn owls. This is John removing the female ready to weigh and ring her. The piece of wood in the mouth of the box is there to stop her flying out.

In 2009 we had 4 babies in the box and in both 2010 and 2011 we had 5. That makes 14 baby barn owls in 3 years makes our box the most prolific in mid-Suffolk and we are really proud of this! One of the ringed chicks from last year has been found around in a farm the other side of Shrublands near Clayden, a full 10 miles away from the Golf Centre. This is an unusual distance for a barn owl to move away.

The female (pictured above) lives with her babies in the box by the 5th tee. The male was not in the box but there are pellets in the box by the 5th green proving he is close by, he hunts for food and protects the box and is slightly smaller in size. I like to think of the female in the bedroom and the male resigned to the sofa!

The babies are between 2 and 4 weeks old and are laid by the female two days apart from each other, this is the biggest of the five babies. They are really warm and extremely docile, this baby owl won’t have seen the outside of its box before today! They are too young to be able to tell if they are male or female but the next visit will tell all. Its great news to have the owls back and I hope you keep an eye out for them while you’re golfing.