Barn owl baby boom

News from the RSPB site

For a very busy pair of Yorkshire barn owls, this year has proved to be a record-breaking breeding season.

For the first time since they nested

at the RSPB Blacktoft Sands nature reserve near Goole in 1999, a pair of barn owls has reared not just one, but two sets of twins this year.

The first two chicks hatched in the spring and had left the nest by summer, when they became independent enough to find food for themselves. This left Mum and Dad with enough time to begin parenthood all over again, and they have been busy feeding a second set of offspring this autumn. The second set of twins has just left the nest in the last few days.

Tori Summerell of RSPB Blacktoft Sands said: 'It was a great surprise to see the fluffy faces of baby barn owls appear at the entrance to the nest box as late as October and it has been exciting to watch their progress over the last few months. It's unusual for barn owls to have two sets of chicks in a year and this is the first time that it's happened at Blacktoft.'

More...