Looking back at last year's owlets...

On the 22nd May 2014 there were five tiny fluffy long-eared owlets, one unhatched egg and two voles in this old crow's nest in a Scot's pine tree out on moorland. Check out the tiny stubby wee wings of the chick with its back to us. The oldest one is about 10 days old.

 

13 days later the chicks were all blinking orange eyes and snapping beaks! The oldest one here is only a day or two from leaving the nest, around day 24, when they take to the nearby branches and call from there.

 

We arrived just in time to ring them. Somewhere, Mum and Dad were hiding in the trees nearby but we never saw them. Up at the nest the chicks were all alert and they were carefully taken down the tree to be weighed, measured and ringed with a unique numbered metal BTO ring. The five fine healthy chicks were then returned to the nest to snooze away the rest of the afternoon till dinner time!