Results of owl pellets from Chew Valley Ringing Station

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig Dissecting an owl pellet at WWT Slimbridge
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig Dissecting an owl pellet at WWT Slimbridge
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

 

In 2015 some owl pellets were collected from Chew Valley Ringing station, which is based on a nature reserve. The owl pellets have now been dissected and examined and the results are listed below. The most interesting are that there are moles, harvest mice and water shrews in the pellets. There were lots of starling feathers but no starlings.

Field Vole 262

Bank Vole 37

Common Shrew 87

Pygmy Shrew 51

Water Shrew 2

Wood Mouse 37

House Mouse 8

Brown Rat 8

Harvest Mouse 7

Whitethroat 1

Wren 1

Mole 2
Dung Beetle 1

Small Beetles 2

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig dissecting an owl pellet at WWT Slimbridge
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

It was really interesting to see these results and know what animals are around for the owls to kill and eat.

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig and Ed Drewitt
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Thank you to Ed Drewitt BSc MRSB from University of Bristol, Senior Teaching Associate, School of Biological Sciences.

About The Author

Hi, I’m Dr. Mya-Rose Craig. I am a 19-year-old prominent British-Bangladeshi ornithologist, environmentalist, diversity activist as well as an author, speaker and broadcaster. At age 11 I started the popular blog Birdgirl, and at age 17 I became the youngest person to see half of the birds in the world.

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Lyrical, poignant and insightful.’ - Margaret Atwood

This is my story; a journey defined by my love for these extraordinary creatures. Because large or small, brown, patterned or jewelled, there is something about birds that makes us, even for just moments at a time, lift our eyes away from our lives and up to the skies.

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