A day firmly split into a good morning and bad afternoon.
Started the day with a trek across Hawk & Owl Sculthorpe Moor, to check barn owl box 2 where the adults have been very busy bringing food to the box during daylight hours. We expected either a decent sized brood or young very close to fledging (in which case it would probably have been too late to ring them).
Pleased to find 4 healthy owlets in the box.
The three young in box 1, already ringed, have now moved to sitting on top of their box and all seem well on the way to fledging.
Seven young Barn Owl from the reserve is quite an achievement considering our concerns for their food supply after so much of the reserve was under water during the late winter and spring.
The afternoon brought news of an injured swan at Selbrigg Pond. We knew immediately that it would be Scarface, a mature cob that has held that territory for some years and is very protective of his group.
https://x.com/nthnorfolknews/status/1803431320997208160?s=48&t=gH6jY7Z_bzkC6mGp3yMDfw
He was found yesterday afternoon with puncture wounds in his neck. To our knowledge there are no new cygnets this year, although there were still three female offspring remaining from last year when we visited last. The wound appears to be the result of a dog attack and to his credit none of his family showed any signs of injury.
Hopefully the antibiotics being administered by East Winch RSPCA will be successful and Scarface (as a result of a bill injury caused by a fishing hook) that also carries an orange darvic 4FTF, will return to Selbrigg Pond in a few weeks.