Saving Suffolk's barn owls

Barn owls are a cherished sight in our region. But nationally and regionally their numbers are struggling this year because vole numbers are down. But in Suffolk, they are bucking the trend.

From the 1940s barn owl numbers plummeted - populations fell by 70% as farming techniques intensified and habitat and nest sites were lost. At one point around 20 birds were dying every day. But numbers are now improving.

The success in Suffolk coincides with the ten year anniversary of a project set up to help the birds. The Suffolk Community Barn Owl Conservation Project has put up 1,800 nesting boxes, and introduced land management schemes across the county. When it first started there were just 90 breeding pairs in the area. Today there are over 400.

The director of the project Steve Piotrowski says

East Anglia’s open grassland habitats of meadows, marshes and the widespread adoption of grassy headlands on farms provide ideal hunting areas and a diversity of food for the birds. Our dry weather in the East makes the area a stronghold for the owls, whose soft unwater-proofed feathers can become saturated.

Project leaders say there is still some way to go to protect these beautiful birds. More boxes are needed, and also a new generation of volunteers to help nurture the next generation of owls. But in Suffolk, at least, they are heading in the right direction.

Things to know about Barn Owls

• Barn owls feed at dawn and dusk, as well as at night.

• It is illegal to look in barnowl nest boxes without a special licence.

• Barn owls don’t make nests

• Pairs will use the same location to breed every year.

• Egg laying starts between early March and mid September.

• Each pair will have 1 or 2 broods a year of between 4 to 6 eggs

• Incubation time is around 32 days

• Nestlings fledge after 53-61 days