New homes for young hunters

Last week we were walking the dog at Halls farm. We reached the hedge at the top of the field but instead of following the usual path to the right we turned left, a new route that would eventually lead back to the car via the butterfly hedge I wrote about in the summer. 100 meters from where we turned there is a large old oak in the hedge, the hole in the oak was dotted with white fluffy feathers. This was clear evidence of a new Barn owl nest on the farm.

Barn Owls, watchful waiting in an Oak tree. July evening, Suffolk. Tyto alba

This means that at least 5 pairs of Barns owls have nested at Halls and Little Haugh farms this year and more than 15 young Barn owls need somewhere to hunt and live. As soon as young owls are old enough to hunt the parent birds drive them away from their hunting territory. Being a young Barn owl is tough, even in a good winter more than half will be dead by spring.

Young Barn owls need to find their own hunting territory and somewhere to shelter when not hunting. Most of the old barns in Suffolk have been converted into houses and there are not enough holes in old trees to go around. Fortunately large parts of little Haugh farm are suitable hunting areas for Barn owls, these potential territories are probably not occupied because of lack of suitable homes.

So over the last 2 weeks we have put up 14 new owl boxes. The new boxes are in pairs quite close together. When Barn owls are preparing to breed in late winter the male is excluded from the nest, the second box gives him a place to shelter close to the female.

Newly errected Barn owl box

Of course it is very unlikely that Barn owls will occupy all seven pairs of boxes. However, the nest boxes are also ideal for Tawny owls, Little owls and Kestrels. Stock doves have also really benefited from the boxes that have been erected all over Suffolk.

The new boxes will be monitored as part of the Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project as a licence is needed to check boxes occupied by Barn owls. It can take more than a year for new boxes to be used for breeding. I will carefully check the boxes and report back here how the new homes are being used.

Errecting Barn owl box in Oak tree

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