Template:How we discovered we had barn owls!

How we discovered we had barn owls!

Our barn owl box had been mounted where it is now for four years and in that time we had never seen any activity leading us to believe that it was occupied.

About a year ago (February 2022) we decided to clear a way into the bramble patch, get a set of ladders up into the owl box tree and do something about the massive tilt that occurred when part of the structure we used to mount the box had fallen off. After 40 minutes work with the brush-trimmer working our way up to and underneath the tree I managed to get the ladders under the owl box. Imagine our surprise when I accidently knocked the box with the ladder and two barn owls flew out and into a nearby tree! We decided to leave the owl box in its tilted position as its occupants were obviously happy with it as it was.

We now firmly believe that owls had probably been in that box for many years, we had just never seen them. We now know to watch them properly you need a camera mounted close to the box that has night-vision capabilities.

Other birds on the owl box

If you see other birds on or around the owl box, don't be fooled into thinking the box is unoccupied by owls. We often see pigeons on and around the box during the day when we know from video evidence that the owls are inside. They don't seem to be bothered by this, though I expect it might differ if they had young and the birds were magpies.