RSPB estate worker Phillip Beeson snapped this amazing shot of a Barn Owl taking a rest on one of our vehicles this morning. These distinctive, beautiful birds, with their buff back and wings, bright white underparts and heart-shaped face are distributed across the UK, but it feels very special to see one so close – and during daylight hours. Barn Owls (Latin name: Tyto alba) can usually be seen in open countryside and along roadside verges, field edges and riverbanks. They fly low over fields and hedgerows and are largely nocturnal, most often seen at dawn and dusk, although they do sometimes hunt during the daytime.
Barn Owls measure between 33 and 39 cm in length, weigh 250 to 350g and have a wingspan of 80 to 95 cm. As with most birds of prey, female Barn Owls are larger than males. They look similar to Short-eared Owls when in flight, but Short-eared Owls have bold yellow eyes, while Barn Owls have black eyes, and Short-eared Owls are more heavily patterned than Barn Owls.
Barn Owls feed on mice, voles, shrews, some larger mammals and small birds. They are silent in flight, have amazing long-distance vision and sensitive hearing, and make high frequency sounds to locate their prey among vegetation, so are highly skilled hunters. They usually swallow their prey whole, regurgitating indigestible parts such as fur, bones and teeth in large, smooth, dark pellets.
When Barn Owls breed depends on food supply. They have no set breeding season, but normally breed between March and August. They nest in cavities, such as hollows in trees and in old barns and buildings, and often return to the same next site each year, building their new nest on top of the debris of the old one. Females lay between four and six eggs, which hatch around a month later, and chicks fledge at about two months old.
Throughout history and literature, Barn Owls have had many nicknames attributed to them, including ‘screech owl’, ‘ghost owl’ and even ‘demon owl’, which reflects how they were viewed by some rural populations, in light of their hissing noises and piercing shrieks. Numbers of Barn Owls decreased through the 20th century, largely due to changing agricultural practices, the use of organochlorine pesticides such as DDT in the 1960s and 1960s, and the development of previously empty barns and old buildings. Numbers may have increased since then, but nocturnal birds such as Barn Owls are difficult to monitor. They are protected under Schedules 1 and 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, meaning it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb an active nest and it is illegal to release them into the wild in Britain without a licence. It is also illegal to take Barn Owls from the wild, although they can be kept in captivity if they are wild birds which are injured or undergoing treatment or have been bred in captivity. As Phil’s picture shows – sometimes you can spot a Barn Owl when you least expect it, so keep your eyes peeled while out on the reserve.