Barn Owls make a come back

These amazing birds, secretive, beautiful white and honey coloured, and with such silent flight and hunting skills are thriving here after all.

Our Barn Owl population seemed to be in serious decline earlier this year. How wrong we were, for we now know they have had a very good breeding season, here on the Roseland.

So where did they go in the winter? One way of attempting to find out Barn Owl movements is to ring them.

Bearing this in mind, a survey of Barn Owl boxes whose sites we knew of, either through Wild Roseland or the National Trust. The survey was carried out by Mark Grantham, chair of the West Cornwall owl ringing group, Aaron Claxton, area ranger for the Roseland and myself. Mark has a licence to inspect owl boxes and ring the birds, and Aaron, under Mark’s tutorship, is training to become a licensed ringer.

This took place at the end of May and revealed that there were 9 pairs of breeding Barn Owls here, producing a total of 21 youngsters. Eleven of the adults were able to be ringed, but the youngsters, in their owl boxes, were too small.

A second visit took place at the beginning of July, and this time 10 of the youngsters were ringed, but the others were still too small, so a third visit is due to take place in August, to do that.

So, we should have several Barn Owls seeking out rodents on the Roseland this Autumn.

Sadly, many of the youngsters will not survive. Some may be hit by night-time traffic, or ingest rodenticide from poisoned vermin, or succumb to bad weather, when they starve as they cannot hunt.

They need to be able to find roosts, preferably in buildings, so, if you regularly see Barn Owls in certain fields, or know of Barn Owl sites we may have missed, please let us know; and we may be able to provide you with a nest box.

Another good news story!  Cornish Choughs have returned to the Roseland and successfully bred.

If you see any of these iconic birds, please do not let people know where you saw them. They are schedule one birds, and deliberate disturbance can lead to a fine of up to £1000.

Finally, please see details below our next field event:

Identifying Bats in Ruan Lanihorne.

A Bat Detection Evening Walk

Led by: Carol Williams, of the Cornwall Bat Conservation Group

Tuesday 8th August, 7.30pm  Ruan Lanihorne, Reading Room

Numbers limited to 25

Contact hallruan@aol.com or call 01872 501429 to apply for a place

Donations appreciated

Thank you for supporting Wild Roseland, David Hall. Co-ordinator, Wild Roseland.