Growing Barn Owls in my Garden

From an upbringing in the Lake District, the author developed a deep interest in natural history which became an all-consuming passion. As a ‘licensed rehabilitation keeper’, he cared for a wide range of injured and orphaned wildlife, giving individuals a second chance by returning them to the wild. He reveals how and why he later graduated to barn owl conservation.

The author describes his many encounters with barn owls, from the acquisition of his first breeding pair; ‘Barney’, a completely humanised owl; to stories of the fascinating array of people involved in releasing, studying, and simply marvelling at this beautiful bird. Although there is a funny side to most situations, there are also the inevitable disasters and disappointments of conservation work, such as the accidental or deliberate sabotaging of releases or the killing of released birds.

The reader shares in the author’s disappointment and frustration at the sheer cost in time and money and his frequent self-doubt about the success of the whole exercise. However, there are descriptions of more enjoyable activities such as bird ringing, watching home-grown birds metamorphose from ugly pink scraps into creatures of ethereal beauty, and the seemingly limitless energy and enthusiasm of countless landowners and volunteers who are totally committed to the reintroduction of the barn owl.

After almost 20 years, there is now evidence of a marked increase in barn owl numbers in areas where the author has worked. During this period, he bred and released around 250 birds, put up nest boxes and advised on barn owl-friendly approaches to land management. These activities helped to reverse the decline in population as areas were repopulated and also created reservoirs of wild breeding barn owls, whose offspring colonised other under-populated parts of the country.From a reader’s point of view it really doesn’t matter whether Paul has chronicled a success story or an adventure in vanity – its a readable account of an honest man’s approach to turning back the tide that threatens to engulf nature. Personally I believe that such effort is an example and it matters little whether this was the right approach for this species, the point really is that we should be trying to reverse the trend toward loss of our native birds. Hindsight is, we know, 20:20 vision and the present is always seen through glass darkly. Good people make the attempt with whatever knowledge is available and this was a good man’s attempt to do some good. The account is both entertaining and informative, especially in showing how our knowledge has grown and how emphasis must change over time to reflect that growth in knowledge. They say for tyranny to reign all that is required is that good men do nothing. Well for the same can be said for the environment. For it to deteriorate all we need do is sit back and watch – for it to survive we must act.

Fatbirder