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Northern Ireland Barn Owl reintroduction (1 Viewer)

jlees1996

jlees1996
It is frightening to think that we have less than 50 breeding pairs of barn owls in Northern Ireland, I have never seen one here and they could well become extinct if there is no action.

We have successfully brought in White tailed and Golden Eagles, and Red Kites, the White tailes are primarily fishing birds, and the Red Kites may give the exploded Buzzard population some competition, however many birds have since been poisoned by farmers in fear of losing lambs.

However, Barn Owls i feel would be farmer's friends here, I myself live on a farm and we have had nothing but bad news in terms of mice and rats eating our livestock meal. Barn Owls would soon welcomingly clean up this problem.

My second point is that anyone who has been to or lives here in Northern Ireland will know that we are one of the biggest agricultural nations in Europe if not the world, we are littered with farms, old abandoned farm buildings, abandoned mills and homes, these are the ideal nesting sites for the Barn Owls. Away from our only major city of Belfast, the West of the country is rich with hills, meadows and hedges many of which are overgrown most of the year, this is teaming with rodents and would be ideal hunting terrain.


So if you have been bothered to read all the speil above, please let me know your opinion, i want to know what you think of the idea of reintroducing Barn Owls to Northern Ireland, populations seem strong in England and Wales, and if we are able to fund other reintroductions of birds, then there is no reason it isnt possible, also I would like to know if there are any downsides to Barn Owls, i certainly can't think of any.

They don't prey on lambs or pther livestock, they clean up our mice problems, we have the perfect terrain for them, and not forgetting they are a spectacularly beautiful animal which I hope I can one day see in the window of an old building on our farm.
 
It is frightening to think that we have less than 50 breeding pairs of barn owls in Northern Ireland, I have never seen one here and they could well become extinct if there is no action.

We have successfully brought in White tailed and Golden Eagles, and Red Kites, the White tailes are primarily fishing birds, and the Red Kites may give the exploded Buzzard population some competition, however many birds have since been poisoned by farmers in fear of losing lambs.

However, Barn Owls i feel would be farmer's friends here, I myself live on a farm and we have had nothing but bad news in terms of mice and rats eating our livestock meal. Barn Owls would soon welcomingly clean up this problem.

My second point is that anyone who has been to or lives here in Northern Ireland will know that we are one of the biggest agricultural nations in Europe if not the world, we are littered with farms, old abandoned farm buildings, abandoned mills and homes, these are the ideal nesting sites for the Barn Owls. Away from our only major city of Belfast, the West of the country is rich with hills, meadows and hedges many of which are overgrown most of the year, this is teaming with rodents and would be ideal hunting terrain.


So if you have been bothered to read all the speil above, please let me know your opinion, i want to know what you think of the idea of reintroducing Barn Owls to Northern Ireland, populations seem strong in England and Wales, and if we are able to fund other reintroductions of birds, then there is no reason it isnt possible, also I would like to know if there are any downsides to Barn Owls, i certainly can't think of any.

They don't prey on lambs or pther livestock, they clean up our mice problems, we have the perfect terrain for them, and not forgetting they are a spectacularly beautiful animal which I hope I can one day see in the window of an old building on our farm.

A few points - all raptors IMO are the farmers friend since they often prey heavily on species classed as vermin eg. Farmers in Donegal have noticed alot less problems with crow and fox predation at lambing time in eagle territories. This tallies with recent analysis of prey items at Irish Golden eagle nests which found the most common prey items after lagomorphs where corvids and fox cubs. Similiarly the main live prey items for buzzards in my own area(based on plucking posts) suggest rabbits, young corvids and rodents make up at least 90% of live prey. Indeed at harvest times a number of cereal farmers in the area have remarked about how impressed they were observing the birds taking large numbers of rats from freshly harvested fields.

I would also point out that there have been no documented cases in NI or the Republic of eagles(or any other raptors) taking live lambs


As regards the situation with Barn owls in Ireland, I have to say they appear to be holding their own in the South of the country at least, given that in the last 10 years I have observed them in all the counties I have spent time Twitching in ie. Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow, Laois, Tipperary, Roscommon and Mayo. Indeed the West of Ireland appears to be a stronghold for them based on the feedback I've had from farmers in the latter 2 counties. Don't forget that Barn owl populations fluctuate wildly based on seasonal climatic factors eg. the last 2 harsh winters are likely to have done serious damage to the population here and the UK and this has been well documented in the past. Simliarliy cold wet summers can have major impacts on breeding success(and lets face it, recent summers in Ireland have been poor to say the least:(). Barn owls are also on the edge of their range in Ireland and our damp climate is not really ideal for high population densities compared to the areas that the species appears to thrive in on contential Europe.


All in all I beleive that once suiteable habitat(and nesting sites) are present, Barn Owls will always have a future on this Island(including NI) without the need for introductions:)
 
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One of the reasons that you rarely see Barn Owls in Northern Ireland is that they are strictly nocturnal. I used to go to work for 2.00am and on my drive from Strangford to Belfast used to see them fairly regularly with birds at Finnebrogue, Saintfield and even in Stranmillis.

They are in trouble in Ireland as a whole and availability of food is one of the problems. Most farms tend to routinely poison rats and mice. The rodents like vegetation and cover and therefore fields, with short vegetation due to sileage, overgrazing, reseeding etc, just do not have the density of rodents needed to sustain the owl populations. The other problem is the areas that there tends to be long grass is on the verges of roads and motorways and Barn Owls which patrol these areas are regularly killed by traffic. On the M8 in Tipperary 6 birds were found dead in one month last year.

As for the Kite introduction successful though it may have been it was in effect an illegal introduction as there is no proof that these birds were ever a native species.

I am in agreement with Irish Kite there should not be any need for introductions with the Barn Owl
 
As for the Kite introduction successful though it may have been it was in effect an illegal introduction as there is no proof that these birds were ever a native species.

Return to your source and ask for proof of this instead of taking for granted all you are told.

Absence of proof is not proof of absence.

One of the reasons that you rarely see Barn Owls in Northern Ireland is that they are strictly nocturnal.

They're not.

Twite.
 
Red Kites are Native to Ireland

.

As for the Kite introduction successful though it may have been it was in effect an illegal introduction as there is no proof that these birds were ever a native species.

Owl

I'm afraid you are very much mistaken - according to sources cited in the excellent Irelands Lost Birds - Red Kite remains have been found in association with archaeological excavations in Dublin(Viking Period), Limerick(12th and 13th centuaries) and Tipperarary(17th centuary).
 
I agree with twite's points above.

There are also issues around survival of introduced birds. Barn Owls were regularly bred in captivity in the UK and birds simply released in to the wild. A study (see extract below from my own paper here re. Barn Owl) proved the low survival of these birds which ultimately let to Barn Owl being admitted to Schedule 9 of the WCA making it illegal to release captive birds in to the wild.

A BTO/RSPB study showed that captive-bred Barn
Owls have a low survival rate when released into the
wild (10% for birds released as juveniles and 15% for
adults) and the study concluded that ‘it was very
unlikely the release of captive-bred Barn Owls was
boosting the wild population at all. So even if thousands
of Barn Owls are being released each year, very
few live long enough to breed, so their effect on the
population is negligible’ (Cayford & Percival 1992).
Following this study, Barn Owl was admitted to
Schedule 9, Part 1 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act
(1981) to control the release of captive birds.

So, this alone is reason to question a re-establishment programme, but until the local reasons for the decline are thoroughly investigated and known, its unlikely to get that far anyway.
 
Twite or is it Seamus You mention the archaeoligical digs of which I am aware. I don't see any mention of remains being found in Northern Ireland. Ussher and Warren didn't seem to think there was any evidence on them in Ireland.

Was there not evidence of lemmings and hyaena found in Mammoth Cave in Co.Cork shall we reintroduce them while we are at it.

So in 600 years time when archaeologists find bones of an american rarity in Co.Cork and say lets introduce these here is proof they were here.
 
I have been monitoring the Barn owl population in Kintyre, scotland for over 15 years now and we are a mere 14 miles from the Northern Irish coast. As stated previously the numbers do fluctuate yearly, mostly depending on the availability of prey. However loss of nest site can be another large factor, like NI, kintyre has an abundance of abandoned farm buildings that have provided nest sites for the barn owl for many years, but some of these sites are being lost to complete decay or in some instances to being redeveloped back into homes etc. The provision of suitable nest boxes in suitable habitat is the way forward and is how i am continuing over here, creating stability for the existing population firstly, then hopefully allowing them to move out into new territorys. I have had recoverys from some of the Barn owls i have ringed that has entailed sea crossings, hopefully Northern Ireland will not be too far for some of our birds to make the crossing
Neil
 
Twite or is it Seamus You mention the archaeoligical digs of which I am aware. I don't see any mention of remains being found in Northern Ireland. Ussher and Warren didn't seem to think there was any evidence on them in Ireland.

Was there not evidence of lemmings and hyaena found in Mammoth Cave in Co.Cork shall we reintroduce them while we are at it.

So in 600 years time when archaeologists find bones of an american rarity in Co.Cork and say lets introduce these here is proof they were here.

In your rush to trip me up you made the error of saying I made mention of archaeological digs...I didn't.

However, if there were remains found south of the border is also necessary to find them north of it?

Re. Ussher and Warren's thoughts on the matter. Does their opinion still matter if it has been proven through archaeological excavations that red kites were here, thus proving their hypothesis wrong? In medieval times it was thought the earth flat, we now know this to be wrong. As new information emerges we revise our opinions...at least I do.

I am aware of how vindictive you can be, as shown by you posting my real name. Unfortunately for you, I don't have a reputation worth thrashing, unlike some others in your past.

Don't you ever feel embarrassed at being used as someone else's mouthpiece?

Séamus Feeney, Sligo.
 
Twite or is it Seamus You mention the archaeoligical digs of which I am aware. I don't see any mention of remains being found in Northern Ireland. Ussher and Warren didn't seem to think there was any evidence on them in Ireland.

Was there not evidence of lemmings and hyaena found in Mammoth Cave in Co.Cork shall we reintroduce them while we are at it.

So in 600 years time when archaeologists find bones of an american rarity in Co.Cork and say lets introduce these here is proof they were here.

I suggest you get your hands on the book I mentioned by renowned Irish ornithologist Gordon Darcy - the list of references to Kites in Ireland is impressive to say the least with plenty of evidence they were widespread around the country till the early 18th centuary. Usser and Warren did not have access to this material and so were not in a position to make any definitive statements on the issue.

PS: Compairing Red Kites to Hyena's and American rarieties is simply nonsensical in light of the known evidence of this raptors recent presence and extinction in Ireland
 
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Irish Kite it seems surprising that Thompson who was Ireland's leading Naturalist in the 1800's found no evidence of there being Kites in Ireland.

Seamus hardly vindictive or trying to trip you up just putting a name to an anonymous to me poster. I had to ask around as to who Twite is.
 
Irish Kite it seems surprising that Thompson who was Ireland's leading Naturalist in the 1800's found no evidence of there being Kites in Ireland.

.

Kites had been extinct close to 100 years by Thompson's time - in any case he did not have access to recent archaeological evidence
 
Back to the subject of barn owls, one of the biggest problems with their decline both north and south in the last 50 or so years was the overuse and reliance of rodenticides on farms which still pervade many farms on this island today. Barn owls wouldn't stand a chance of any significant recovery until such measures were enforced to control the use of such substances. Also silage cutting gets ever earlier resulting in decent grassy,hunting areas disappearing during breeding times.
It would indeed be great for reintroduction schemes of this fabulous bird to take place, but firstly a huge education and awareness programme needs to be implemented to farmers and landowners and we all know they won't do anything unless there is some financial insentive in the offering.
 
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