Become a Pellet Detective by studying Barn Owl Pellets

What is an Owl Pellet?
Owls are carnivores that eat animals such as birds, rodents, rabbits, frogs, and insects. Lacking teeth, they swallow prey whole or tear it into chunks with their beaks. Soft parts are digested in the gizzard, while indigestible material like bones, hair, and feathers is regurgitated as a soft, odourless pellet — not passed as droppings

Why Study Owl Pellets?
Owls often sit at the top of their food chain and play a key ecological role. Studying Owl pellets offers valuable insights into their diet and habitat.

Pellet Dissection Equipment

  • Bone Identification Charts

  • Pen and card - for recording findings

  • Ruler – for measuring pellets

  • Tweezers and cocktail sticks (or similar) – for extracting bones from the fur

  • Magnifying glass – to help identify the bones

  • Small pot with water and a mild disinfectant in – for cleaning extracted items

  • Paper towels – for absorbing excess water

  • A shallow dish or newspaper - to dissect the pellet on

  • Strong glue – to attach bones to labelled card

  • Optional thin rubber gloves to ensure hygiene whilst handling pellets

Remember: ALWAYS wash your hands after handling owl pellets and their contents!

PELLETS

  • We’re pleased to say we’re BACK IN STOCK of the Barn Owl Pellets we sell for dissection at £3.50 each.

  • The individual pellets are sterilised with heat to ensure they are safe at home or in the classroom. They are also sorted for quality and size to make sure that each pellet provides an interesting and educational experience. Each pellet is completely unique and they are not artificially filled or tampered with during their preparation.

    Each pellet order will come with a complimentary Bone Identification Chart and Worksheet to help you get the most from this engaging experience together with a copy of the “Stonham Screecher” Newsletter & Quiz Sheet. The pellets cost £3.50 each. Tweezers are available separately at £0.25p each and extra work sheets at £0.15p each.

    There is a £5 P&P charge for your complete order irrespective of the number of pellets, leaflets or tweezers included. Please note we can only dispatch orders outside of the UK by prior arrangement - please email info@owlhelp.org.uk for a quotation stating your country and number of pellets required.

Looking at the Inside of a Barn Owl Pellet

Pellets can be dissected when they are dry, but are sometimes a little stubborn. Often it helps just to soak them for about half an hour beforehand and then pat them dry with paper towels. 

  • Write your name and the date on a clean piece of card

  • Using the tweezers and a cocktail stick, tease the pellets apart

  • With the tweezers, carefully remove anything you find, clean it up and dry it on a paper towel

  • Match each item you remove with the Bone Identification Chart

  • Stick the items you have found on to your clean piece of card, carefully labelling each part as you do so. Remember to write the name of the prey on the card, once you are sure what it is - you may need more than one piece of card, if you think you have found more than one type of prey!

There may be other things that you find inside your pellet, such as parts of insects or the quills of bird feathers. Make a note of these somewhere on your chart. All of these things can provide you with useful information. 

Remember, all birds and animals have a preferred habitat and feeding habits, so finding out more about the owl’s prey will help you to discover more about the owl.

Now that you have dissected your pellet and carefully organised what you have found, see if you can answer the questions below.

  1. What did this owl eat; did the pellet contain more than one type of prey?

  2. Was this owl’s main prey Vegetarian?

  3. Can you work out, from the type of prey, whether this owl hunts at night or during the day?

  4. Does the type of prey give you any clues about where this owl hunts?

See if you can construct a food chain using all the information you have gathered. Where is the owl most likely to be in your food chain

Some things to think about

  • What would happen if one of the creatures in your food chain disappeared? What effect might it have on the other members of the food chain. What could happen to the local environment?

  • How might your food chain be affected if the local habitat was damaged or destroyed? Could this have any consequences outside of the local habitat?

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Teacher Notes for Pellet Detectives

Dissecting pellets can be a wonderful hands-on way for children to learn about various facets of the wildlife in their immediate environment and also in the world at large.

Pellet dissection is a fascinating and informative science activity, which can prompt all sorts of discussion and investigation into varied aspects of nature, such as food chains and habitats. It can also lead to the exploration of much wider topics, including the conservation and care of local and global environments.

As with many such topics, the possibilities for expansion of the subject and the inclusion of other areas of the curriculum are boundless!

Key Stage 2 Objectives & Outcomes

The Objectives and Outcomes for this activity are taken from those given by OFQUAL (Primary and Secondary Legislation Standards Site for Science) and are only intended as a guide.

Year 3

Unit 3A: Teeth and eating
Objectives - that different animals have different diets
Outcomes - identify different sorts of food eaten by the animals

Year 4

Unit 4B: Habitats
Section 3: Different animals in different habitats
Objectives - that different animals are found in different habitats; that animals are suited to the environment in which they are found
Outcomes - state that animals and plants are found in some places and not in others and explain

Year 5

Unit 5_6H: Enquiry in environmental and technological contexts
Section 2: Collecting and interpreting data
Objectives - to collect and record data appropriately; to look critically at data collected
Outcomes - collect and record data carefully

Year 6

Unit 6A: Interdependence and adaptation
Section 9: Animals and plants in a different habitat
Objectives - that different animals and plants are found in different habitats
Outcomes - name some animals and plants found in the habitat; identify features of animals and plants which make them suited to their habitat.

TEACHER NOTE DOWNLOADS
You can download a copy of these guidance notes HERE, complete with Bone Charts

If you can, please let us have feedback on your ‘pellet detecting’ experience HERE - we’d love to hear from you!

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