More Kestrels...

It was a blustery afternoon when Paul and I arrived at a barn on the outskirts of Great Yarmouth to check on a Kestrel box. The box is of particular significance as it is being monitored by the RSPB to determine prey selection.

Kestrel chicks in the box

Despite the windswept location the parent birds are clearly doing well with six chicks staring out from the back of the box. They were duly bagged up, ringed, photographed and replaced. The only prey item present in the box was a small rat.

  The six Kestrels after ringing

A quick check in some nearby stables for swallow nests saw two broods of five ringed and one to come back for. The swallows at this particular location don't seem to have faired very well this year with few birds present and not many nests with evidence of recent fledging.

Swallow pulli