Barn Owl Survey & Mitigation
Our ecologists are appropriately licensed and qualified to carry out barn owl surveys and can advise on effective approaches to mitigating for the loss of barn owl roost and nest sites.
Barn owls, their eggs and young are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) in response to declines of an estimated 70% since the 1930s. All birds, their nests and eggs are protected by law; in addition it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb a nesting barn owl. For more information on barn owl legislation click here.
Initial Survey
The requirement for a barn owl survey may be raised by the land owner, developer or planning authority. Alternatively suitability for barn owls, barn owl activity or field signs may be recorded during other survey works. On most occasions barn owl surveys will be requested in relation to planning applications to re-develop buildings located in rural surrounding and it is often practical and economically efficient to undertaken barn owl and bat surveys simultaneously.
A barn owl survey will involve first contacting organisations that may hold records of barn owls and/or their nest sites for area. A visual survey will then be undertaken by a licensed surveyor who will look for evidence of barn owl roosting or nesting including signs such as live or dead owls, feathers, droppings, pellets, nest debris and eggs. An assessment will be made of the type and level of use of the surveyed building by barn owls. For more information on planning applications involving protected species click here.
Further Survey Work
It is illegal to intentionally or recklessly disturb a nesting barn owl and barn owls may nest at any time of year. Consequently further surveys may be required to ensure barn owls are not nesting when works are scheduled to start.
Survey Timings
Surveys of buildings or structures for barn owl nesting may be undertaken at any time of year. In most cases a single survey should be sufficient to determine whether a building is used by barn owls and the way in which they use the structure. The protected species timetable provides information on when bat survey and mitigation can be carried out, click here for more information.
Mitigation
Where barn owl nest and/or roost sites are being redeveloped or destroyed alternative nesting or roosting provision should be provided. Large scale projects may also impact upon barn owl feeding areas, in which case mitigation plans may be designed to include compensatory or additional patches of barn owl feeding habitat. At Access Ecology Ltd we are well placed to advise you on the best approach to accommodating barn owls within your development in a way that is both cost and time effective and sensitive to the needs of the barn owls themselves.
Access Ecology Services
We work across the UK and offer our services at highly competitive rates. Our pragmatic and personal approach allows us to provide a bespoke service for each individual client when dealing with development issues. Mitigation designs are always discussed and agreed with our clients so the best possible design can be created which is subtle within the proposed development, whilst still providing the necessary mitigation for barn owls.
To discuss your project further please call the office on 0114 2587819, or if you would like to request a fee quote for your project contact us by email at info@accessecology.co.uk with your contact details and the necessary details of the project.