Barn Owls are known to be living in the area but with numbers in decline in Shropshire, awareness needs to be raised about the threats to their habitats.
3Number of known
barn owl nests in Northern Ireland 30 Estimated number of breeding pairs left in the wild here
Barn owls and short-eared owls have 'buzzed' the reserve in winter for the past couple of years.
However, there has been another trend, which in its own way has also legislated against
barn owls, the conversion of old, now disused farm buildings into modern homes.
From the mid-1990s until now, the game fund has placed and is looking after more than 200 nests in agricultural and livestock in an effort to spur growth in the population of
barn owls.
To help understand if and how patterns might differ, we assessed
barn owl occupancy during the early-breeding season, when
barn owls engage in territory establishment, pair bond formation, nest defense, and ultimately egg-laying/incubation, and during the post-breeding season when non-migratory adults typically remain near breeding sites but juveniles settle into potential breeding habitat.
Our work corresponds to first record of the diet of the
Barn Owl from the Atacama region, Chile.
Last year, the wildlife trust received only 19
barn owl sightings.
Barn owl boxes should face away from the heat of the afternoon sun and be 15 to 30 feet high, and kestrel boxes should face east or south and be 10 to 20 feet high.
This new initiative aims to boost
barn owl numbers on the Northumberland coastline.
Key words: Tawny owl Strix aluco
barn owl Tyto alba regurgitated pellets.
Although once a common sight,
barn owl numbers have decreased rapidly over the last 30 years due to habitat loss and bad winters.