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It has now been 2 days since the owls came down to the restaurant to feed at night.  I hope that they find their fast food of the rodent kind more appetising than what we have.  Fly safe, dear lord Ashford and lady Gwyneviere and thank you for sharing a piece of your life with us.  

They do what?

Barn owls regurgitates a pellet with indigestible food matter. Normally the diet of the owl can be identified by analyzing this pellet. Since we know that Lady Gwynevere and Lord Ashford are only eating day old chicks, we won't be analyzing their pellets although Johan did take a picture of one. Barn owls eat mainly small mammals but can include bats and birds, as well as lizards, amphibians and insects.

 

Peek a boo? Is THAT my dinner? 

 

All settled in

We now have video confirmation that both owllets have eaten at least once. Thanks to Isabel Smuts who took this beautiful pictures of one of them. Evidence of dinner on the second one!

Now we can check on the owllets on CCTV.

We were able to watch the owllets come out of their box and feed tonight.  Thanks to Tim and his team from Falsec Securities for the installation of the spycam in the release pen.  We can now sit and watch them without disturbing them.  This is a picture of Gwynevere with her dinner. I'll have to learn how to transfer images and videoclips from the DVR.

First glimpse ...

We had the first glimpse of Lady Guenevere and Lord Ashford in their release pen. They didn't eat their first supper last night but looked very interested in what we provided tonight.  They kept their distance, but didn't hide away.  Hopefully that is a good sign.  I managed to take a cellphone picture of them in bad light.

They have arrived!

The friendly guys of EcoSolution arrived this morning to erect the owl release pen. Here you can see the two owllets in their transport box.

 

Jackson also spent some time with the staff at 40 on Ilkey B&B to explain the process and teach about the owls, what they do for the environment and touch on the myths and superstitions around this vital link in the ecological chain.