My name is Pippa and I joined the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust as a Volunteer Trainee Ranger at Berry Head in January this year. Here at the National Nature Reserve, we are always on the lookout for what species are on site and our latest excitement was a barn owl sighting, right in the fields behind the bungalow!
Barn owls hadn’t been seen at Berry Head for over 30 years, so this was pretty special! Every day, we would peep out at dawn or dusk and look out for the barn owl foraging over the fields – one day, two were even spotted at the same time.
Heading out one morning Tim, our ranger at Berry Head, popped into the field shelter behind our bungalow to collect some wood. With a keen eye, he noticed white droppings all over the wooden posts, and on closer inspection, some pellets on the floor… thinking it through, it could only be one thing – a roost for the owl! Reporting back to us all, we got terribly excited – a potential owl living right behind our house… we had to investigate further!
After researching barn owls, we headed into the shelter to collect the pellets and capture some evidence of the owl’s presence. There were around 15 pellets, so it was clear it had been there a while! (Owls can’t digest bones or hair, so after eating, their food is regurgitated, and the undigested parts are cast up through its beak). Dissecting the pellet, we found an assortment of bones, and matching them up, it became apparent the victim was a field vole. This aligns with research showing that typically 40% of a barn owl’s diet is of this species.
Spotting barn owls on the reserve after so long, we wanted to ensure that they can thrive here, so we contacted the Barn Owl Trust. Not only to report their presence for their records but also to gather advice on how to most effectively manage the habitat for them. Having seen two barn owls in the area and knowing our shed is a safe space, we also wanted to find out if the shed was a suitable space for a barn owl box and encourage nesting.
Josh from Barn Owl Trust came to visit. With Josh’s expertise, he could tell from the degree of dryness that some pellets were from over a year ago, and others were just a couple of weeks old – clearly, the owl has been with us for a while!
Much to our delight, Josh confirmed that the area was absolutely perfect barn owl habitat. The fields surrounding the shed are rough grassland, providing a thick litter layer at the base of the grass in which mice and voles can burrow, with little holes allowing them to graze on the surface. This means the barn owl has a good source of prey on its doorstep. As we only have the land lightly grazed for a couple of months a year, this pasture should continue to thrive. With several connected fields and no major roads close by, we are providing a good amount of rough grassland that barn owls need near their roosting site. And now we know, keeping the management style the same is perfect for the owls!
Josh explained that with our ideal habitat, a nest box does have potential, so we recently created a nest box inside the field shelter, in time for their breeding season which starts in March. Our next task is to cover our water troughs with floats to prevent any thirsty birds from drowning. We also installed a camera trap, giving us close-up footage of the owl, so now we can learn more about its behaviour and maybe see if a partner comes to join it!
Fingers crossed for new tenants this spring, and if you’re down at Berry Head at dawn or dusk, keep your eyes peeled for the white ghosts silently gliding over the fields!
