Another Barn Owl breeding season has just come to an end and this one was the best on record, according to the latest figures from the BirdWatch Ireland Raptor Conservation Team.
The breeding productivity and the number of breeding pairs monitored surpasses all previous records.
We are now calling on the public to support our Barn Owl Appeal to help to continue to drive the recovery of this red-listed species.
2023 saw a of milestones for Barn Owls in Ireland. In August, a record 100 Barn Owl nests were recorded in County Cork alone. Additionally, for the first time ever, BirdWatch Ireland recorded a brood of six young Barn Owls in nests in several counties which included Offaly, Kilkenny, Limerick, Wexford and Clare and for the first time ever, we recorded a brood of seven Barn Owls in a nest in Ireland (thanks to the monitoring of Áine Lynch and the Tipperary Barn Owl Team). This season, we also ringed 150 broods, the highest number to date.
Barn Owl peering out of its nesting hole in an ash tree after dark (Mike Brown)
In recent months, widespread public support coupled with the expertise and dedication of the Raptor Conservation Officers has allowed us to expand our work aimed at supporting this vulnerable species. This included, among other things, giving the public an intimate look into the lives of Barn Owls by livestreaming from a nest in an abandoned cottage in Cork for the first time. Over half a million people tuned into the livestream while the nest was occupied.
Barn Owls are an iconic but unfortunately, red-listed species that face a wide number of threats in Ireland including rodenticide poisoning, road collision and habitat loss. BirdWatch Ireland is working to change their trajectory. Through a wide range of measures, we have been monitoring and supporting vulnerable Barn Owls in a number of counties for over 20 years.
We want to continue our conservation focus on Barn Owls to take advantage of the recent population increases and to ensure that the population continues to recover until its future is secured. We know that our conservation efforts to date have worked, and we are looking for help to support us to continue and expand on these efforts for Barn Owls and biodiversity as a whole. We have received funding through NPWS and several Local Authorities through the Local Biodiversity Action Fund, as well as Dublin Zoo, which has allowed us to undertake much of this work. However, our conservation work for Barn Owls in other Counties and on specific aspects including research and Barn Owl rescues is entirely unfunded, donations made through our Barn Owl Appeal are vital for this work to continue.
Barn Owl (Anna David)
BirdWatch Ireland has built an extensive body of Barn Owl research and with support, we hope to continue to build on this. This research includes undertaking surveys, which help us to better understand the status, distribution and health of populations in different areas of the country, identify nest sites and inform conservation requirements. We also document nest sites and feed this information into a national database of Barn Owl breeding sites. This database, which now includes almost 800 nest sites, provides source information to inform a range of our research and conservation activities.
By monitoring breeding success at a range of Barn Owl nest sites on an annual basis, we can also assess trends in breeding and the health of the population. The survey and monitoring efforts work in close collaboration with a wide range of individuals, groups and BirdWatch Ireland Branches across the country, including the Wexford Barn Owl Project, Wicklow Barn Owl Group, Laois Barn Owl Project, Offaly Barn Owl Conservation Project and the Barn Owl ringing team, to name a few.
We also collaborate with others on research initiatives aimed at increasing our understanding of Barn Owl behaviour and the pressures and threats that they face. Some of these research initiatives are looking at topics such as the extent of exposure to rodenticides in Barn Owls in Ireland, the impacts of major roads on Barn Owls and a European-wide initiative on the effects of weather patterns on Barn Owl hunting and breeding success.
As part of our Barn Owl conservation work, BirdWatch Ireland also manages a range of Barn Owl nest box schemes and this has been a huge success to date. We have recorded Barn Owls breeding in and using over 250 nest boxes to date, with this number increasing on an annual basis.
Other work includes mitigating relevant threats through measures such as nest site improvement, carrying out Barn Owl rescues, ringing Barn Owl chicks and helping to safeguard the future of the species through informing conservation approaches and providing landowner advice.
Those who support our Barn Owl Appeal can help to fund all of this work and more. More information about the Appeal and a donation link can be found here
