007 - 220 - Barn Owl Conservation project
Barn Owl Conservation project
Image details
| Access number | |
|---|---|
| Cat by | |
| Cat date | |
| Copyright | |
| File | 220 |
| File 2 | |
| File key | 7220 |
| File MB 600 | 2.2 |
| File megabytes | 1.8 |
| File resolution | 300 |
| File resolution 600 | 300 |
| File size | 20 x 29 |
| Folder | 7 |
| Home loc | |
| ID | 624 |
| Object ID | RAO/56/26 |
| Object name | printed page, black and white |
| Other number | |
| Provenance | |
| Reverse | |
| Reverse 2 | |
| Reverse key | |
| Status | In Store |
| Status by | AJA |
| Updated | 2nd September 2015 |
| Updated by | AJA |
| X date | 1992 |
| Equipment registration mark (ERM) | |
| Full name | |
| Early date | 1992 |
| Late date | 1992 |
| Transcription |
RAO / 56 / 26 BARN OWL CONSERVATION PROJECT The Barn Owl ( Tyto alba ) is Britain's most beautiful owl . Entirely white underneath and on the face with golden brown upper parts , speckled with dark grey / brown swirls . Ghost like at night with a silent buoyant flight and a highly specialised hunting technique . It inhabits farmland and open country , hunting over rough grassland , stream banks , hedgerows , roadside verges and forestry plantations , all of which abound undisturbed in the Central Ordnance Depot apart from the patrolling policeman and his dog . It feeds mainly on short - tailed voles and shrews , but other small mammals such as mice and young rats are also taken . During the captive breeding period the owls are fed on day old chicks . The aim is to try and arrest the decline of the species by reintroduction into suitable areas . The placing of nest boxes in suitable habitat was commenced in 1983 but by 1986 no natural recolonising had taken place . In that year , 1986 , it was decided to introduce ex - captive stock into the experimental area . Restocking Policy Restocking is only justified in areas where the wild Barn Owl stock has declined due to the mortality rate exceeding the reproduction rate . This makes natural recolonising impossible unless there is an influx from surrounding areas where the population is stable and increasing . However , the haphazard release of ex - captive Barn Owls without preliminary research as to the suitability of habitat and available food supply and without follow up observations is inhuman and of no scientific value . A site needs to have a past Barn Owl history with habitat either largely hanged or restored with a suitable nesting site and a provided nestbox . Then provided a food supply is given throughout and if necessary beyond the breeding season , then starvation is unlikely . Furthermore , if a pair hatch out young and then desert the site , the nestlings can be reared there by human help or taken back into an aviary for later release . What cannot be controlled is the fate of the young which disperse after becoming free flying but this also applies to the offspring of wild owls . Breeding Success and Survival Rate Breeding success can be defined as the proportion or percentage of ex - captive pairs which succeed in rearing young to the free flying stage in relation to the total number of pairs released . When an To calculate a survival rate of both adults and young from year to year is a complex task and is impossible without intense follow - up observations . ex - captive pair are initially confined to a release site , they have no option if they wish to breed , other than on that particular site . If they survive to a second year , the breeding site would be of their own choice , therefore a thorough search of the surrounding area is necessary in order to locate them . To maintain a population of an area , the survival rate need only be high enough to ensure that equal number of compatible males and females remain in numbers equivalent to those of the past year . 1 |
