White-breasted Barn Owl - 1949 status

Tyto alba alba

"A resident far from common . . . in cliffs both inland and on the coast".  Thus Mathew, and this is true to-day.  A pair recorded as nesting in a little cave on the Mewstone, Skomer, among the seabirds.  Has nested also St Margaret's and Caldey.  Visits the islands in winter.  Often caught in rabbit-traps.

R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society

Barn Owl - 2003-07

Barn Owls are thinly scattered across the county, mainly associated with farmland, particularly where there are good amounts of rough grazing. River valleys, such as those of the Western and Eastern Cleddau, are good areas for them. They mainly nest in farm buildings, including crevices in natural cliffs and quarries. Old semi-ruined buildings can also be important. Being a Schedule 1 species (under the Wildlife and Countryside Act) they are afforded extra protection measures, such locations need to be considered carefully in development planning applications.

They will readily utilise artificial nest sites provided in appropriate locations, including nest boxes placed in modern farm buildings or in trees. Being mainly nocturnal, Barn Owls can be difficult to locate. However, breeding adults can often be seen out hunting before dark when they are feeding young, gracefully flitting along hedgerows and grassy areas in search of rodents.

Due to recording difficulties, the atlas tetrad maps probably under-estimate their true distribution. Nevertheless, the number of tetrads in which they were recorded was actually very similar in both atlas periods.

With annual fluctuations in breeding success, mainly linked to cycles in vole populations, it is very difficult to estimate Barn Owl population levels without detailed study. It was considered that there were around 100 breeding pairs in Pembrokeshire in 1984-88, based on the number of tetrads where they were found. 

During the first atlas survey a large proportion of the records of Barn Owls came by talking to farmers, something that was also important during 2003-07.

With an absence of more detailed methods of estimating the population, the overall population is considered to be similar to that of the earlier period. The total number of tetrads with confirmed and probable breeding was higher than that of the earlier atlas period, so the actual breeding population may have been higher.

Since the 1980s, winters have been generally milder so winter survival of Barn Owls may also have improved. More detailed surveys are needed to refine ways of estimating population levels.

Bob Haycock

 

Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads)

Red = breeding confirmed = 47

Orange = breeding probable = 18

Yellow = breeding possible = 36

Total tetrads in which registered = 101 (20.6%)

Barn Owl - 1994

Breeding resident

"A resident far from common" wrote Mathew (1894), an assessment with which Lockley et al. (1949) agreed. Lloyd entered "uncommon in Pembrokeshire" in his diary for 1925, and Saunders (1976) remarked that the Barn Owl seems never to have been particularly common in Pembrokeshire.

Nonetheless, Blaker (1934), who conducted a survey of England and Wales on behalf of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, estimated that there were 220 pairs in Pembrokeshire (a total derived from Blaker's map by C. Shawyer, pers. comm.). The Breeding Birds Survey of 1984-1988 found more Barn Owls than was expected at the outset, probably over 100 pairs. A large proportion of the sites were brought to light by talking to farmers and it is possible that others might be revealed could more landowners be canvassed.

Both Mathew and Lockley et al. noted nesting in cliff crevices on the mainland and islands of Skomer, Caldey and St Margaret's. They have since been only occasional visitors to the islands of Skomer, Skokholm and Ramsey but have nested in the cliffs at Pen Beni and Dinas Fawr.

Mathew noted two instances of communal roosting, or what he termed an "owlery". One in the roof of a country house contained about a dozen adults, besides owlets in various stages of growth. The other, in the connected roof space of a row of cottages, contained between 40 and 50 Barn Owls. The only modern equivalent record concerns 12 seen emerging from the ruins of Butterhill Mansion in 1987.

Since it is only occasionally seen hunting in the twilight in Pembrokeshire, and more often at night passing through the headlight beams of cars, this species is easily overlooked, although it will hunt in broad daylight following snowfalls.

 

Fieldwork 1984-88 (based on 478 tetrads)

Red = breeding confirmed = 31

Orange = breeding probable = 11

Yellow = breeding possible = 68

Total tetrads in which registered = 110 (23%)

Donovan J.W. & Rees G.H (1994), Birds of Pembrokeshire

Barn Owl - 1970s breeding

Red = breeding confirmed

Orange = breeding probable

Yellow = breeding possible

Barn Owl - 1980s winter

The Winter Atlas showed that Barn Owls were recorded in 14 out of 27 of the county’s 10km squares during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.

The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square.  The darkest blue represents over 3 birds recorded in a day.

This species can be difficult to detect in the winter when it is mainly nocturnal and silent, which despite being a resident, has resulted in a 40% lower registration than in the 1970 breeding atlas survey.

LACK, P.C. (1986) The atlas of wintering birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A.D. Poyser

Barn owl - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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