I've waited before sharing a review of 2025 anticipating a summary of the year across the UK and the successes and disappointments in different regions. It gives me a comparison from which I can gauge our results and, of course, I am always keen to see how the beautiful Barn Owl is faring.
It appears that the results are mixed. Some areas, such as East Yorkshire, reported a bumper year, but these figures are tied in to a great effort by local conservation groups. Barn Owl numbers increased where concerted efforts had been made to provide both habitat improvement and nest sites. Most groups including the ones in East Anglia reported a poor year. The very hot and dry weather, especially early in the spring, meant that vole numbers were down. Barn Owls either didn't risk breeding or produced eggs only for their nests to fail. Hunting opportunities in the dry and settled weather would have been good, but if the prey weren't breeding there was simply nothing to catch. I was grateful to a local ringer who got in touch to tell me that preliminary checks were showing very few owls were breeding locally. It helped me to watch our owls a little more closely.
Of course, here on the farm, the owls began nesting in March confident in a ready supply of food. The feisty dark female took west nest box and I soon saw her taking food in to owlets. Our original female was pushed away from the main nesting area and surprisingly nested in the farm chimney. During the final days of May, we saw owlets hopping in and out of the chimney. I would hazard a guess at three owlets but with such an inaccessible nest site it was difficult to say. Meanwhile the darker female reared at least three youngsters, all female. I watched these as they first began peeping out of the nest box at me and then began hopping about on the nest box porch. They fledged into the nearby trees where they could practice their flying skills hopping about from branch to branch. They were a delight to watch.
As usual second broods followed. By September, I knew the dark female had take the box in the combine shed while the older female had moved further away to the beehive box on the periphery of the farm. It worries me that she is getting pushed out by the younger, more assertive owl. We've had two pairs on the farm since 2014 and they've tolerated each other well but I watch at feeding time and the dark female will send our old lady off if she has a chance. I feed in three different places to give our original lady a good chance of getting some food but it is sad to see. I believe she is fifteen this year and after what happened to Daddy Kestrel, I fear for her. Nonetheless she reared another brood of two or three and brought them across into the yard for food in the autumn. The brood in the combine shed were a raucous lot and were probably joined by the beehive brood as they hissed noisily from the roof struts as I ventured into the yard with food every evening.
We had our tragedies with the owlets as is the case with nature. Soon after the summer broods had fledged we found one trapped in the combine. To this day we have little idea how she got into the grain cart but she did and was extremely weak when rescued.I still regret letting her hide in the straw where she died but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The second casualty was predated, possibly by a buzzard considering her injuries and this one was from the autumn brood. Fledging is a precarious business as this year shows.
Regrettably, I didn't get the owlets ringed this season. We were totally spoiled with Paddy as he would come out to visit us purposely to catch our owlets which were always much earlier to fledge than the other owls in the area. We have found since Simon took over, that by the time he is ready to ring the owlets in our locality ours have already fledged. I need to remedy this. Paddy has data for our farm since the 1990s and it would be a terrible shame to let that data lapse.
2025 had one notable difference for me and it was a disappointing one. Usually the owlets from the second broods stay on site all winter and my best viewing opportunities occur in late winter when the owl will readily fly in for food, sometimes eight or nine at a time. This year the owlets dispersed from the farm in December.Perhaps with the female being more territorial she sent the youngsters off at this point. We certainly heard a lot of screeching. I also wonder if the incredibly mild and settled weather we had well into December meant the owlets felt confident to leave the natal nest site and look for territories of their own. There was also a more sinister reason that I considered. We had avian flu close by. I saved a cygnet from the adults that were drowning it and after advice from a wildlife charity I took it further down the river. On the way I saw three other dead cygnets and realised that I may be moving an ill bird about. Sure enough Defra confirmed that the swans had avian flu. This was early November. The adult swans were attacking the young birds because they knew they were ill. Could it be possible tat the owls sent their youngsters off to keep them safe from the threat of bird flu? I don't think we lost the owlets or I would have found at least some of them but it could explain a change in their normal behaviour.
So 2025 was a mixed year for us. I had some beautiful encounters with the owls but some heart wrenching moments too. We reared potentially twelve owlets, ten of which dispersed and are hopefully looking to rear youngsters of their own . As I sit and type,I wonder what 2026 will bring. There will be big changes on the farm but I will remain a constant for the owls and do my best for them..
