Owl Nesting at the Farm

I love the role farms have looking after the countryside. From hedgerows and meadows to tree preservation and ponds, most farms are teeming with wildlife and it goes hand in hand with either the crops or the livestock which the farms produce.

I marvel at the amazing birds I see at the farm. Bull finches and Goldfinches are my favourites but we have a resident sparrow and robin and I love seeing them each day.

Recently, we found a oystercatcher nest on the ground and got really used to hearing their distinctive call.

For me though, a former town girl, it is the owl which holds some kind of mythical and majestical presence and I can never tire of the excitement when I get to see one.

I have seen a barn owl at dusk and, more recently, a Little Owl scurried across my path as I returned from the school and nursery run. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The farmer sees many more owls than me because he is usually found checking up at dusk-the perfect time to spot an owl.

We are more than aware that owls favourite snack are rodents so to encourage them to live and nest here means we get some kind of pest control which is ok by us.

We decided to buy a couple of owl houses to encourage them even more. We know an owl lives in one of our barns (I believe it is a tawny Owl but I haven’t seen it myself) so we put one house in there under the eaves.

We attached the other one to a pole outside near some trees and we are now sitting patiently, hoping that the houses get some new inhabitants very soon.

Apparently, owl nesting can occur between March and August so we may be a little late this year but I have also read that owls go back to the same nesting site year after year so we can only keep everything crossed.

I just hope I get to see another barn owl

*Edited to add-10 days after installing the box, the CCTV camera picked up this below.