Owl food Friday 12th January 2017

I have recently been notified of a ringing recovery, that is to say someone has sighted a bird ring that I have previously put onto a bird during a ringing session.

When birds are ringed there is always the hope that there will be subsequent encounters with the bird, either alive or, more usually dead; however no matter the circumstances it all adds to the science of bird ringing.

On the 2nd of October 2016 I was ringing at Pembrey Burrows in grazing field 2 and caught 28 birds of which 24 were Meadow Pipits, (Meapi)

One of those Meapi was ringed with Z544250 with the following biometrics recorded:

age       3 (hatched in 2016)

wing     82mm

weight 18.5g

time    08:30

the details were recorded by Veronica.

Meadow Pipit

On 31st December 2017 some Short-eared Owl pellets were found on Rhossili Down and the finder noticed a bird ring sticking out from one of the pellets, the finder sent the details off to the BTO who matched the ring with the one above...science.

The time between ringing and the ring being found was 455 days, the distance between  the original ringing site and the finding site was 10km in a southerly direction.

As many will know late winter 2017 had been very good for SEO at Pembrey, so did this Meapi meet its end at Pembrey and was carried in the stomach of the owl to Rhossili Down or, did the Meapi fly over to Rhossili and meet its end there.

Meadow Pipits are the prey of a wide range of birds of prey and of course the SEO, it is not an unusual sight to see acrobatics between a Merlin or Sparrowhawk and the Meadow Pipits at the reserve.

Short-eared Owl Pembrey LNR (Colin Dalton)

In the Mammal Society booklet, "The analysis of Owl Pellets" by D W Yalden it states that 

"....SEO and Long-eared Owls are known to be nomadic or migratory and may bring prey some distance..."

The recovered owl pellets and the ring, it is so useful to do as this finder has done and use a scale it makes identifying most things so much easier,

notice how tapered one end of each pellet is, this is a noted feature in the Mammal Society booklet

Another useful guide for owl pellets is the FSC, pamphlet "British Owls and Owl Pellets"