Encouraging Barn Owls

When we did the renovation to our barn and stable here at Tredarrup we happily had to put up an owl box to create a possible habitat for barn owls.  It was built to spec as supplied but the Barn Owl Trust and we added a camera but over the years we sadly still as yet have had no occupants !!! 
 We have  enjoyed barn owls taking flight across our field at dusk but nesting elsewhere and the hoots of Tawny Owls in the lane   are very common.
 So this year we are working more on our field to try and encourage more food sources for them.  Their food of choice is voles,   mice and rats but they may also take birds and bats.  So where we have planted up young trees we are leaving the grass areas around which apparently is ideal for field voles.
 Owls have good stereoscopic vision allowing them to judge distances accurately , which helps them to hunt.  They have very sensitive hearing which enables them to pick up the slightest rustle in the grass…which is why they rely more on sound at night to pinpoint creatures…
The population of the barn owl is only a third of what it was in the early parts of the 20th century the decline is due to loss of prey-rich habitats and reduction in the amount of nesting space.  managed hay meadows were a boon for barn owls but now farmers have largely changed from hay to silage this had meant a loss of 90% of our meadows since th 60s which means less mammals for them to feed on…  wildlife friendly farming methods numbers are increasing…
So why not  Take a look at Heligan’s Barn Owl webcam…