Tyto alba - Barn Owl

The barn owl is mainly nocturnal, and so anglers fishing for sea trout at night frequently see these ghostly pale shapes gliding silently across the river. (Barn owls are only white when seen from underneath, of course.) Their screeching cry is unmistakable - if a little unsettling until you get used to it.

Old ruins, barns and church towers are favourite nesting places of barn owls. Natural sites can include holes in trees or crevices in cliffs or quarries. Barn owls do not bother to build a nest. They lay their eggs - typically between four and eight of them - on whatever rubble, soil or wood chips line the cavity. (Regurgitated pellets are often found in the same cavity.)

Rats, mice, moles and other small mammals make up the staple diet of barn owls, but they will also eat beetles, small birds and occasionally fish.

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