Barn owls over Suffolk

One of the pleasures of rural life is the wildlife, something that, as a transplanted Londoner, one doesn't take for granted.

And as 'wildlife monitor' on the Parish Council, I've taken more of an interest in conservation. I'm a member of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, and spent a slightly frustrating evening in their badger hide last year, watching the badgers... hide.

We were encouraged to keep an eye out for owls last year and, occasionally, I would see one out in the fields, hunting for field mice at dusk. They are rather impressive, and they glide silently over the wheat bringing death to any unwary small rodent they might spot.

It is therefore good news to hear that the recorded number of breeding pairs of barn owls in Suffolk has increased from 108 in 2007 to 427 last year, on the back of an initiative to install nest boxes across the county, through the Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project. So successful has their work been that they reckon that there are more barn owls now than there were in 1932.

I understand that they are giving away free barn owl boxes and fixing them for community projects, so I might well be in touch...