Conservation & Ecology
an ideal place to start to encourage this beautiful bird. Field voles regularly form a large part of the diet. On one occasion at John O’Gaunt Golf Club, when dissecting a barn owl pellet, we even found the remains of a water vole - the owl doesn’t distinguish protected species from the common. As the small mammal population
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One very important thing to mention is that you must have a Schedule 1 Licence to be able to check a barn owl box, particularly if you suspect breeding, as the licence holder would be able to handle the adults or young for ringing purpose
fluctuates, so the barn owl population is up and down too. In bad years, they might not breed at all but, in good years, they can sometimes have two broods. A good year could mean a large brood; up to nine chicks have been recorded, but this is rare. An average year would probably see around four chicks, but perhaps only one or two in poor years. If they do have a second brood, this could present another problem as the chicks would be more vulnerable to bad weather later in the year, so not as likely to be as successful. In an average year, they will nest and lay eggs in the second half of April but, if they are going to have two broods, they will often lay eggs in the second half of March.
Case Study
At John O’Gaunt, way back in the early nineties when I first started, the Barn Owl was a regular sight over the tractor shed in the early morning. In 1996, with the help of Colin Shawyer (a barn owl expert) we erected an A- frame nestbox specifically for them. They bred in the box for the first two years, but then deserted us. There had been the odd sighting on the Carthagena course in 2008 so, in 2009, we erected another A-frame box with fresh hope they would return. But it was not for another three years (in 2012) when we had a pair nest on each course. It was a fantastic achievement for our conservation work at the club. However, it was a sad ending as, although both pairs bred with a total of five chicks, unfortunately they all died, most probably due to starvation. 2012 was a very wet year and barn
owls rarely hunt in the rain so, if the adults were struggling for food, the young would eventually succumb. There was then a gap of four years but, in 2016, they nested on the Carthagena course and bred successfully, after initially laying six eggs, they had four chicks which all fledged successfully.
How long do barn owls live for?
The heaviest mortality rate is in the first year, as with most other birds small or large, but if a barn owl lives for five years it is doing well. The longest recorded time a barn owl has carried a ring for in the UK (see BTO ringing scheme) is fifteen years, making its true age possibly a bit older.
Steve Thompson 94 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017
Very few get over ten years but, in captivity, they can live until the ripe old age of twenty or more.
How far do they travel?
Native born British barn owls vary quite a bit in how far they travel. Some will choose not to move far from the nest site, whilst others will move up to 200km and occasionally even further. A small number of European barn owls will come to the UK when it gets too cold in their normal home.
What does the future hold and what can still be done?
Probably the most important thing is to keep the suitable habitat that supplies the food that the owls depend on. Create new habitats, improve old ones and try to ensure suitable mitigating actions if they come to be built on. Golf courses can play a vital part in the future of the barn owl by looking after their rough tussock areas. Boxes are a way of providing a safe
home for the owls, and you can never have too many. Some will be used for breeding and others for roosting in. One very important thing to mention
is that you must have a Schedule 1 Licence to be able to check a barn owl box, particularly if you suspect breeding, as the licence holder would be able to handle the adults or young for ringing purposes. The BOCN (Barn Owl Conservation Network) is a network of many volunteers across the UK who look after barn owls. There are other owls and birds of
prey that nest in boxes; tawny owl, little owl and kestrel. More about them in the next edition If you want any advice on boxes,
where to put them etc., or for more general advice then visit
www.bocn.org
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