What we’re fighting to protect - stunning barn owls
These stunning images and video of a barn owl were taken by East Chiltington resident and Don’t Urbanise the Downs campaign member Amanda Inglis. Amanda has lived in the parish for 15 years and is passionate about the wildlife in the area. She said: “The bird song alone is just extraordinary. We have everything here – woodpeckers, warblers, nightingales, skylarks. It’s just wonderful.”
Amanda’s barn owls originally nested in a nearby beech tree but, when that got infected with honey fungus, she installed two nest boxes in her barn.
She added: “We have a nesting pair there right now and the chicks were only born last Monday. If we were on the edge of a huge development, they just wouldn’t be here. By destroying the green land and concreting it over, you massively reduce food opportunities for wildlife. You impact their ability to hunt and they just can’t survive.Amanda added: "When you step out of the door here, nature saturates you. It’s inconceivable to me that anyone could destroy such utter beauty.”
There are an estimated 12,000 barn owl breeding pairs in the UK. These beautiful birds live in open countryside – along field edges, riverbanks and the grass strips alongside woods. Road traffic is a real threat. The Barn Owl Trust estimates that in a typical year, around 30-40% of young Barn Owls are killed on major roads.
If we urbanise our countryside, we lose our Barn Owls. Join our campaign and help us protect our beautiful countryside.