A\u00a0bounty\u00a0of barn owl chicks has\u00a0been recorded\u00a0at\u00a0two\u00a0sites\u00a0in\u00a0County\u00a0Fermanagh for the first time,\u00a0offering\u00a0hope for one of Northern Ireland\u2019s rarest birds\u00a0and prompting an appeal for sightings across the west of the country.<\/p>\n
Two\u00a0barn owl\u00a0pairs were discovered\u00a0to have bred successfully\u00a0on farm visits\u00a0this summer\u00a0by Ulster Wildlife, each raising\u00a0five\u00a0chicks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the\u00a0local nature conservation\u00a0charity, a brood of\u00a0five\u00a0chicks is above the average\u00a0for barn owls\u00a0indicating\u00a0a good\u00a0breeding\u00a0year for the\u00a0iconic farmland\u00a0species.\u00a0 Five chicks have already fledged\u00a0from one\u00a0site,\u00a0while\u00a0the other\u00a0brood\u00a0are\u00a0just a\u00a0few weeks behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For\u00a0several\u00a0years,\u00a0Ulster Wildlife has\u00a0worked\u00a0alongside\u00a0local landowners\u00a0to\u00a0install\u00a0nest boxes and help\u00a0create the right conditions for barn owls to thrive. This summer, those efforts paid off,\u00a0with the nest boxes allowing conservationists to safely\u00a0monitor\u00a0the birds and confirm that both pairs had successfully raised chicks. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barn owls\u00a0face\u00a0a range\u00a0of pressures locally including habitat loss,\u00a0rodenticide use and lack of food prey. Estimates now suggest that there are fewer than 30 breeding pairs\u00a0remaining\u00a0in Northern Ireland,\u00a0making them a red-listed\u202fspecies\u00a0on the Irish Birds of Conservation Concern and protected under the Wildlife (NI) Order 1985.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n
The chicks\u00a0also became\u00a0the\u00a0first\u00a0known\u00a0to be ringed in the county\u00a0under licence from NI\u00a0Environment Agency,\u00a0with support from\u00a0the\u00a0British Trust for Ornithology.\u00a0Ringing\u00a0provides\u00a0invaluable information\u00a0about their survival,\u00a0movements\u00a0and future breeding success,\u00a0helping\u00a0to\u00a0protect\u00a0Northern\u00a0Ireland’s tiny barn owl population.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Katy Bell, Senior Conservation Officer with Ulster Wildlife said:\u00a0\u201cAfter\u00a0such a difficult\u00a0breeding\u00a0season last year\u00a0for barn owls, finding two\u00a0successful\u00a0nest sites, each with five healthy chicks, is\u00a0fantastic\u00a0news. Barn owls\u00a0remain\u00a0incredibly scarce in County Fermanagh,\u00a0with\u00a0few\u00a0reported sightings,\u00a0so this is a real boost for their conservation \u2013 and a real cause for celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of this would\u00a0have been\u00a0possible without the support of local farmers and landowners\u00a0like\u00a0Mannok\u00a0Build,\u00a0who\u00a0reported the birds to us and\u00a0are managing their\u00a0land in\u00a0ways that support nature.\u00a0As a result,\u00a0we are now able to protect these sites and\u00a0safeguard them from disturbance, ensuring\u00a0Fermanagh\u2019s\u00a0barn\u00a0owls\u00a0have the best chance of success.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because barn owls are so rare in the west of Northern Ireland, the exact locations of the nest sites are being kept confidential.<\/p>\n
Ulster Wildlife is\u00a0calling on\u00a0anyone who has spotted a barn owl in Counties Fermanagh,\u00a0 Tyrone\u00a0and Derry\/Londonderry\u00a0to report their sighting. Every\u00a0single observation\u00a0could\u00a0help conservationists\u00a0discover an unknown breeding pair and protect an important nest site.<\/p>\n
Katy added: \u201cWe believe there are more barn owls out there than our records currently show, particularly across the west of Northern Ireland.\u00a0While there are no confirmed nest sites currently known in\u00a0Counties Tyrone or Derry\/Londonderry,\u00a0regular sightings suggest breeding birds are likely to be present.\u00a0If you think\u00a0you’ve\u00a0seen or heard a barn owl,\u00a0we’d\u00a0love to hear from you.\u00a0This information could help us\u00a0locate\u00a0important breeding areas and protect these iconic birds for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barn owls are mostly nocturnal\u00a0but\u00a0can be seen\u00a0hunting\u00a0at dawn and dusk\u00a0over fields, hedgerows or roadside verges.<\/p>\n
Their\u00a0heart-shaped face and pale white underparts\u00a0can be\u00a0spotted\u00a0in low light.\u00a0The barn owl\u00a0is silent in flight but is often referred to as the “screech owl” due\u00a0to\u00a0its distinctive long, rasping screech rather than a “twit-twoo\u201d.\u00a0Their eerie appearance and call have also earned them a place in local folklore\u00a0inspiring the\u00a0legend\u00a0of the\u00a0banshee.<\/p>\n
Barn owls\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0make nests. They nest in old buildings, hollow tree\u00a0trunks\u00a0or readily use artificial nest boxes.\u202f\u202fSigns of active nest or roosting sites include white droppings\u00a0or\u00a0“whitewash”\u00a0on barns, sheds, trees or fence posts\u00a0and the presence of dark, oval pellets\u00a0containing\u00a0the fur and bones of small mammals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The charity is particularly keen to hear from farmers, landowners and anyone who regularly travels rural roads at dawn or dusk.<\/p>\n
All\u00a0sightings\u00a0are treated in the strictest confidence to help protect these vulnerable birds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\u00a0bounty\u00a0of barn owl chicks has\u00a0been recorded\u00a0at\u00a0two\u00a0sites\u00a0in\u00a0County\u00a0Fermanagh for the first time,\u00a0offering\u00a0hope for one of Northern Ireland\u2019s rarest birds\u00a0and prompting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1168741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[250516,1144,61563,43816,16,7913,15,1717],"class_list":["post-1168740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-barn","tag-northern-ireland","tag-owls","tag-sighting","tag-uk","tag-ulster","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117156961794293145","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1168740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1168740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1168740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1168741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1168740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1168740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1168740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}