 Room
for an Owl?
You own some land,
you’d love to see barn owls take up residence but you’ve no barn!
Don’t despair, they’re not that fussy.
But first, have you the
right sort of land to be good barn owl habitat?
Rough grassland (not
grazed pasture) with tussocky grass and a good ‘thatch’ in the bottom
will be the perfect home for field voles. Barn owls adore field voles.
Wild flower and hay
meadows, overgrown hedgerows, banks, young tree plantations and woodland
edges all provide good hunting grounds.
The land at Little Green
Space’s Hackney Leys site appears to be ideal.
Estimates of acreage
required by a pair of breeding barn owls can vary—up to 100 acres—but
you don’t have to own it all! As long as there are similar areas and
plenty of rough field margins or woodland edges within a couple of miles,
all should be well.
Now we come to the barn.
Well, obviously if you
have an old disused (or not too frequently or noisily used) building on
the land, you’re nearly there. Remember that the owls will need 24/7
access and that it will be infinitely more attractive if fitted with an
interior nesting/roosting box.
No barn?
A good, big tree is a
splendid alternative but it will need a special nest box, either fitted
between the branches or fixed, well out of human reach, on the trunk.
There should be a clear ‘flight path’ to the entrance hole.
If you have no suitable
tree you could erect a pole nesting box. Don’t go fixing a box to an
electricity or telephone pole without express written permission!
Your nest box needs to be
erected before the end of March to give owls a chance to find it, check it
out and take possession. If you don't get chance to erect the box until
later in the year, it's still worthwhile - barn owls may have finished
nesting but there is still a good chance that they will use your box as a
roosting site as they need several places to roost within their territory.
Don’t forget that a box
intended for barn owls may not necessarily be adopted by barn owls and you
shouldn’t give a hoot if it is claimed by tawny owls, little owls,
kestrels or even jackdaws. They all need somewhere to live.
Try erecting another owl
box on another tree a hundred yards away—or even several more boxes if
you have enough space and enough trees!
For detailed information
on various types of barn owl nesting boxes (and lots more about barn owls)
visit The Barn Owl Trust at www.barnowltrust.org.uk
or telephone 01364 653026.
Happy owling!
Ken Dykes
- Ornithology Advisor for Little Green Space.
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