Tawny Owls – Nest Site Preferences (a Diary)
Tawny Owl Territories
During the breeding season small rodents form the basis of the Tawny Owls’ diet, and they require large territiories to enable them to obtain a sufficient supply for themselves and their off-spring.
The territory is well defended by the occupying pair. Any encroaching Tawny is quickly driven away.
50 acres or more of woodland is the normal requirement.
Within this, they have favourite hunting and roosting points. They are nest site faithful. Some Tawny owl nest sites have been regularly used by generations of the same Tawny Owl pair. If and when an adult Tawny dies, it will be replaced by a young bird looking for a good territory, and so, in a sense, the pairing goes on and on. They don’t routinely change nest sites. It takes some sort of disturbance to prompt the pair to look for a new location for the nest.
Woodcock Wood
Woodcock Wood is approximately 10 acres of woodland within the 60 acre block of Goldwell Wood. It is on the Kent and East Sussex border. We bought it in 2017.
The Tawny Owls’ Nest Site in Goldwell – Recent History
Goldwell Wood is the perfect size for a Tawny Owl territory, and by chance it is likely the owls’ traditional nest site was located in the part of the wood we bought. We believe it was in the crook of an old oak, about 3 metres off the the ground, as we saw owlets there in the spring of 2018.
We were unaware of this when we chose this as our camping area. It was a busy spot and this must have prompted the owls to move.
In 2019 we put up two nest boxes in a quiet clearing set aside for them. The owls readily took to the boxes, and reared two young in the spring of 2020. They have used the box 4 out of the last 5 years.
In one year they decided to nest high in a nearby pine tree, with disasterous results for the two owlets. We put their decision down to being disturbed twice in the nest box during the crucial pre-laying period. Since then we designated the clearing as a “no go” area for people between October and the end of April.
Unaccountably, in 2025 the female chose to return to their original oak tree to nest.
According to the detailed videos we recorded throughout the nesting period – end of October through to end of April – nothing we could see occurred, that would have or could have disturbed them enough to prompt this change.
The Nesting Behaviour of the Goldwell Wood Owls
The season begins in October, when the two adult owls come together at their chosen nest site. Together they occupy it, and where necessary, defend it against allcomers.
The usual suspects come to taunt them – in late autumn Jays in particular seem to cause them considerable grief. The Jay’s noisy and aggressive looking approach is definitely off-putting to the owls, even when they hear the Jays in the distance.
Why the Jays take this approach during this time, is unclear. Perhaps it’s the mere presence of the owls that stimualtes a mobbing response in the Jays.
Magpies and even the persistent alarm calls of Great Tits also make the owls wary.
Of course, the real competitors for the box are Grey Squirrels. There’s a constant uneasy relationship between the squirrels and owls. But at times it seems a truce has been called, with amost contentment in the status quo.
One or both of the pair spend a lot of time at the box prior to the time of egg laying, which occus at the beginning of March. From then on, until the owlets leave the nest in April, the box is well guarded.
The 2024/25 Season
In 2025 something strange occurred, and the videos give us no clue as to what it was. Up until mid-February all looks well with the owls. They are recorded sitting comfortably in their box either singly or together, behaving as normal, just as we have seen them in past years.
On 4th February the owls are absent from the box. We just see the occasional inquisative squirrel, and then from 11th February until the end of the recording, we only see the male owl. He frequents the box day and night. He has obviously made the box his preferred resting and roosting place.
The female is elsewhere and presumably at the nest. In fact we discover her in the crook of the old oak in their former site, and we get glimpses of at least one owlet, but it’s a difficult location to observe, and impossible to photograph from the ground.
The owlet or owlets left the nest sometime before 17th May, and there we have it. Why? …. we will never know. The interesting thing will be, whether they choose to return to the nest boxes in 2026 or return to the oak.
Highlight video clips of the 2025 diary: https://youtu.be/hsHNt0b5LEY
Of course, this is only half the story. For the full story, take a look at:
https://woodcockwood.com/tawny-owls-nest-boxes-and-grey-squirrels-a-year-in-the-life/