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.
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.