January News Bytes 2022

These news snippets have appeared on our social media sites: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram during the month and are shared with you here:

Happy New Year!⭐

⭐ Best wishes to all our supporters for 2022 from all of us at the Barn Owl Trust ⭐

📸 Russell Savory

LLP Events
We are looking forward to our next Bird Walk! Recently on the bird crop we have been seeing Linnets, Chaffinches and Blackbirds regularly, along with Bullfinches, Reed Buntings, Bramblings, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Siskins, Goldfinches and Greenfinches.

You can find out when we are running events here.

Biodiversity
A recent, and very welcome, visitor to our reserve here in Devon!

The presence of apex predators, like foxes and owls, is indicative of a healthy ecosystem. In this case, it is further evidence that our rough grassland reserve has a fantastic population of small mammals.
Managing habitat for Barn Owls benefits a whole range of other species!

You can find out more about the different species we see throughout the year in our Wildlife Diary.

Volunteers!
We are so grateful to our trusty volunteers! Tony has been a regular volunteer with the trust for many years, as has Harry who always comes back to help us out when he is home from University! This week, Tony and Harry have been cleaning the aviaries which must be done on a regular basis to ensure a high level of hygiene for our resident/rehab birds. Without volunteers, small charities like ours would really struggle. We have come to rely on our wonderful volunteers for all sorts of things and we couldn’t (and very much wouldn’t!) want to be without them!

Online Talks
The following Barn Owl Trust talks are now available online via Zoom or Teams:

School talks
– Wings of Change
Adult talks
– Restoring the Balance
– The Lennon Legacy Project
Non-Barn Owl Trust talks:
– Climate and Ecological Crisis? What’s all the Fuss about
A talk by David Ramsden, Head of Conservation
For more information including how to book, see here.
Craig Jones

Building a Barn Owl nestbox
We have lots of instructional videos available on our website, including ones showing you to build Barn Owl nestboxes for inside building and for trees. You can find all the information on our Nestboxes page.
 

Climate and Ecological Crisis
You might think that a warming UK climate would be good for Barn Owls. They are, as a species, much better adapted for warmer and drier climes.

However, the climate crisis is likely to result in a number of changes to current weather patterns that are bad for Barn Owls.

Find out how the Climate and Ecological Crisis affects Barn Owls.

Climate and Ecological Crisis? What’s all the fuss about?

Melting ice caps, rising sea levels, loss of habitat, extinction of animals and insects, the disappearance of bees and other pollinators: Many of us have some level of awareness of the climate and ecological crisis. And yet we continue wasting resources and consuming more than we need.

So do we really understand the impact of these environmental changes on our world? And if we do, how can we translate this understanding into action?
This talk is an easy-to-follow look at the whole subject & possible solutions. Every time David gives this talk somebody says: “everyone should hear this!”.
Find out more

Show you care!
Choose the perfect ethical, plastic-free, Valentine’s gift from our range of Clean Green Hair & Body Care Gift Packs.
 

Humble Hero!
Rich Harris was recently nominated for #HumbleHeroes by his wife for his wonderful work with Barn Owls and Tawny Owls! Watch the lovely video below to see the moment Rich found out, and hear all about his project and what motivates him

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CYcC81toDQi
Major roads and Barn Owls…
In collaboration with Kier Highways Limited on behalf of National Highways, we are researching how Barn Owl fatalities could be prevented on major roads in the Southwest. Action is urgently needed to mitigate these serious hazards.
You can find out more on our Barn Owl Hazards: Major roads page.