Barn Owls need a plentiful supply of prey mammals – their favourite, in the UK, is the Field Vole. Here’s a photo guide all about Vole holes and how to spot them.
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- If Field Voles are present, their holes may be spotted easily from November to March
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- Nationally, Field Voles comprise 45% of Barn Owl diet.
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- In really good rough grassland, vole holes can average 2 per square metre.
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- Most Field Vole tunnels (or ‘runs’) do not go underground but simply through the ‘litter-layer’.
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- Field Voles emerge to graze on the surface . . .
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- . . . but spend most of their time in a complex matrix of ‘vole runs’ that lead to their nests and latrines.
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- Nests consist of finely-chewed grasses in a slight depression in the ground or at the base of a tussock.
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- Most latrines are hidden in a ‘run’ but this one was ‘open-air’ in the base of a rotted thistle.
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- The key requirement of good habitat is the ‘litter-layer’ as shown in this cross-section view.
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- Unfortunately, the combination of vole-rich verges and unscreened traffic is often fatal for Barn Owls.
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