The Barn Owl

Barn Owls have an amazing distribution across the world reaching down to Australia and South America. A bird ringed at Brodick Castle turned up on the Isle of Skye, showing their powers of dispersal. Before they earned the name “Barn”, prime nesting sites were in trees and rock crevices but evidence shows that they were living besides man at Glastonbury as early as the Iron Age.

Over the course of a year a pair of Barn Owls will require at least 4000 items of prey to raise a family. Researchers found that the Owls can catch mice in total darkness aligning its talons along the length of its prey. The heart shape face deflects sound to the off-centred ears which send signals to specific parts of the brain which then makes a detailed sound map to locate food.

The Barn Owl’s ghostly appearance and its eerie screech meant that it gained a range of names throughout the UK. The gaelic is Cailleach-oidhche Gheal meaning old woman of the night whilst in Yorkshire it was known as the Screaming Owl. Superstitions about the magical properties of the bird were widespread including the custom of nailing an owl to a barn door to avert the evil eye and eating owl eggs to improve your eyesight.