Conservationists are celebrating the birth of a \u201cbounty of barn owl chicks\u201d in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
Two barn owl pairs were discovered to have bred successfully on farm visits in Co Fermanagh this summer by Ulster Wildlife, each raising five chicks.<\/p>\n
The charity described a brood of five chicks as being above the average for barn owls, indicating a good breeding year for the farmland species.<\/p>\n
Barn owls remain incredibly scarce in County Fermanagh, with few reported sightings, so this is a real boost for their conservation – and a real cause for celebration<\/p>\n
Katy Bell, Ulster Wildlife<\/p>\n
It added that five chicks have already fledged from one site, while the other brood are just a few weeks behind.<\/p>\n
It comes after work carried out by Ulster Wildlife with landowners to install nest boxes and help create the right conditions for barn owls to thrive.<\/p>\n
There are estimated to be fewer than 30 breeding pairs of barn owls remaining in Northern Ireland, with the birds on the red list of Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland and protected under the Wildlife (NI) Order 1985.<\/p>\n
Barn owls face a range of pressures locally including habitat loss, rodenticide use and lack of food prey.<\/p>\n
The latest chicks are the first known to be ringed in Fermanagh under licence from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, with support from the British Trust for Ornithology.<\/p>\n
Ringing is done to provide information about their survival, movements and future breeding success.<\/p>\n
Five barn owl chicks born in Co Fermanagh Credit: Ulster Wildlife\/PA<\/p>\n
Katy Bell, senior conservation officer with Ulster Wildlife, described \u201cfantastic news\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter such a difficult breeding season last year for barn owls, finding two successful nest sites, each with five healthy chicks, is fantastic news,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarn owls remain incredibly scarce in County Fermanagh, with few reported sightings, so this is a real boost for their conservation \u2013 and a real cause for celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of this would have been possible without the support of local farmers and landowners like Mannok Build, who reported the birds to us and are managing their land in ways that support nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result, we are now able to protect these sites and safeguard them from disturbance, ensuring Fermanagh\u2019s barn owls have the best chance of success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ulster Wildlife has issued an appeal for sightings of barn owls in counties Fermanagh, Tyrone and Londonderry to be reported to help build information about the birds.<\/p>\n
While there are no confirmed nest sites currently known in counties Tyrone or Derry\/Londonderry, regular sightings suggest breeding birds are likely to be present<\/p>\n
Katy Bell, Ulster Wildlife<\/p>\n
Ms Bell added: \u201cWe believe there are more barn owls out there than our records currently show, particularly across the west of Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile there are no confirmed nest sites currently known in counties Tyrone or Derry\/Londonderry, regular sightings suggest breeding birds are likely to be present.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think you\u2019ve seen or heard a barn owl, we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis information could help us locate important breeding areas and protect these iconic birds for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barn owls are mostly nocturnal but can be seen hunting at dawn and dusk over fields, hedgerows or roadside verges.<\/p>\n
Sightings can be reported at ulsterwildlife.org\/barn-owls or by emailing barnowls@ulsterwildlife.org<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conservationists are celebrating the birth of a \u201cbounty of barn owl chicks\u201d in Northern Ireland. Two barn owl…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-749957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}