What We Do

As a registered charity, Wirral Barn Owl Trust aims to encourage a viable population of breeding wild Barn Owls on the Wirral peninsula by carrying out voluntary conservation work with the support of its members. The work we do includes:

  • Collecting and collating sighting reports.
  • Locating and monitoring breeding pairs
  • Nest recording and ringing Barn Owls in co-operation with the British Trust for Ornithology
  • Visiting farmers & land managers to publicise the problem and promote habitat creation/protection
  • Installing nest boxes in areas where there are suitable habitat and a shortage of natural nest sites
  • Liaising with local authority planning departments to protect breeding birds and to encourage mitigation for Barn Owls when farm buildings are redeveloped.
  • Supplementary feeding (in extreme weather conditions only)
Have you seen a Barn Owl recently?
Sighting reports are extremely important to us and are always recorded.  When collated they may indicate the location of a breeding pair.  The data may be crucial when a future planning application affects a Barn Owl breeding site, roosting site, or important foraging habitat. You can quickly and easily report a sighting to us from our Sightings Page
Barn Owls do not hoot like Tawny Owls. They make a very different, piercing screeching noise and sometimes a hissing or ‘snoring’ sound.
Barn Owls usually breed between April and August but breeding has been recorded during every month of the year.  If you know the location of a Barn Owl breeding site on the Wirral peninsula please let us know, email: info@wirralbarnowltrust.org
IMPORTANT: Please don’t go too close to a breeding site: disturbing breeding Barn Owls is a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment. Visits to breeding sites can only be done legally under a licence issued by Natural England or the BTO.