Wokingham

This is the third year of monitoring the 13 custom-built barn owl nesxt boxes installed by Wokingham District Council’s countryside service. Last year was a bad year for barn owls nationally and only two chicks were recorded in the Wokingham district. This year, however, the population has bounced back and a bumper 18 chicks were found during recent monitoring. One nest box in Swallowfield contained seven chicks. Colin Shawyer of the Wildlife Conservation Partnership said: “This is the largest known fully matured brood we have encountered in England this year.”

Barn owls pair-bond for life and are remarkably faithful to their nest sites, with the same pairis likely to return to the same box for years to come. Andy Glencross, Wokingham District Council’s biodiversity officer, said: “Barn owl nest sites are hard to come by in an area where many barns have been converted into houses, so it’s extremely gratifying to know that practical action by the project partners has caused a really significant increase in the local population. We are hopeful that if the weather holds some pairs may even have a second brood.”

Building on this success, Wokingham District Council has secured funding from Cemex (formerly Ready Mixed Concrete), Reading Ornithological Club and the Environment Agency for a further six boxes to be installed. Since the first boxes were put in three years ago, 27 barn owls have been raised, and with the extra boxes it is hoped this total will grow and grow and that barn owls will become a common site throughout the Wokingham district.

Executive member for human resources and environment services Cllr Rob Stanton said: “It is really good news that the district has this many barn owl chicks this year, and I hope that the additional boxes will see the number rise again next year.

“The council is all too aware of the pressure this area faces for increased development and it is measures like this that will help to balance the effects on the district’s non-human population. Hopefully, these are new homes that the neighbours will be more than happy to have!”

Alex Hazel of the Environment Agency said: “We are very pleased with the success of the Wokingham District Barn Owl Project. It is a good indicator to show the health of the wider river corridor.”

Derek Wiseman from CEMEX said: “We were very pleased to hear that our Moor Green Lakes site was considered suitable for a barn owl box this year. Hopefully next year we will be celebrating the first barn owl chicks raised on the site.”

Wokingham District Council ~ November 9, 2005