Overview of the UK Barn Owl

The Barn Owl (Tyto alba) is a distinctive and iconic species in the UK, recognised for its ghostly appearance, silent flight, and distinctive heart-shaped facial disc.

Habitat and Hunting Behavior

Barn Owls are primarily nocturnal and are often found in open countryside, hunting along field margins, rough grasslands, mixed farmlands, and open meadows. The Barn Owls main diet are small mammals like voles, mice and shrews, which they hunt by flight or by post hunting using their exceptional hearing. Dawn and dusk are their preferred hunting times, although they can be seen activily hunting during daylight hours when they have Owlets to feed or because the weather throughout the night has been too intense to venture out hunting to find prey.

Nesting and Adaptation

Barn Owls prefer to nest and roost in quiet, undisturbed locations such as old barns, old buildings, and hollow trees. With the conversion of many old barns into housing and the construction of modern metal barns, Barn Owls have increasingly relied on artificial replacemnt sites, common known as Owl Nest Boxes. These have installed throughout UK by Owl Friendly farmers, landowners, and wildlife groups who want to help Barn Owls thrive in natural areas of the UK's Countryside. Modern Owl Nest Boxes, now play a vital housing need for Barn Owls, providing essential sites for refuge during periods of heavy rain and more importantly, nest Boxes provide much needed roosting sites and key breeding nest sites where they can raise families.

Conservation Efforts

Barn Owls have adapted well to using artificial nest boxes due to the modernisation of countryside buildings and the loss of old trees with naturally formed tree hollows. A significant conservation effort in the UK involves providing Owl Nest Boxes on farmlands to support and grow their population. The Barn Owl Centre, a registered UK charity, it plays a crucial role in supporting UK conservation efforts and supplies specially designed nest boxes that are manufactured in its workshops by a dedicated conservation team.

Population and Protection

The UK population of Barn Owls has fluctuated over the years, but recent estimates suggest there are around 10,000 to 12,000 breeding pairs, this signals a great recovery from previous numbers. However, ongoing conservation efforts are essential to maintain to increase their numbers further.

Legal Protection and Conservation Success

Barn Owls are protected under the UK's Wildlife and Countryside Act. Through the widespread installation of nest boxes, Barn Owls have moved from being an Amber-listed species to a Green-listed species, which is great news for everyone throughout the UK involved in Barn Owl conservation.

Present Threats to Barn Owls still exist through

• Habitat Loss: Modern farming and the urbanisation of the countryside which will effect and reduce suitable habitats,  vital hunting grounds and nesting sites.
• Road Casualties: Many Barn Owls, including grown Owlets that are dispersing in search for new territories, sadly will risk collison with vehicles whilst flying across roads or when hunting along roadside verges.
• Rodenticides: Consuming poisoned prey leads to harmful secondary poisoning, this harms Barn Owls which can prove to be fatal.
• Weather Changes: Extreme wet weather disrupts hunting and survival, especially for young owlets venturing out from nest sites to learn how to catch prey or during their time when Owlets commense the journey to dispere to find new territories of their own.

Summary

Conservation efforts, such as providing artificial nest boxes and preserving habitats, have been crucial in stabilising the Barn Owl population in the UK. Despite the progress, ongoing challenges like habitat loss, road casualties, and secondary poisoning from rodenticides require continued attention to ensure Barn Owls thrive and poplutation figures increase in numbers.

Did you know?

Approximate Life Span for wild Barn Owls
Average life span in the wild is approx 1 to 5 years, oldest recorded by BTO ringing data is 17yrs years

Compared to the approximate Life Span of Captive bred Barn Owls
Average life span can range from 20 to 25 years, oldest Barn Owl at our Sanctuary lived to 34 years of age, confirmed by old DEFRA leg ring paperwork.

It is illegal to release Captive bred Barn owls to the wild, they are not wild Owls and their survival rate in the wild is only estimated around 2 days!