Britain's Next Native?

In September young little owls go in search of their own territory – but times are tough and populations are plummeting. Yet it’s a struggle to get this non-native species onto the conservation agenda in Britain. Matt Swaine meets the researchers trying to find a solution.

The stand-off in Nestbox Two came as a surprise to everyone. The only way that the barn owl could have accessed the dark nest chamber

was by squeezing through the tiny entrance hole and dragging itself along on its sternum though a narrow tunnel of chicanes. A motion-triggered camera stirred into life to capture the menacing glare of the interloper as its appearance sent the female little owl backing into a corner.

But what came as no surprise was how vigorously she defended her four precious eggs. Little owls have been described as among the finest parents in the bird world, and she lived up to her billing, launching herself fiercely at an intruder twice her size. Seconds after he had retreated she settled back to the business of incubation, but when the eggs hatched six days later he soon returned.

“At that point he must have heard the chicks,” says Dr Emily Joachim, who set up the UK Little Owl Project and monitors this box in Wiltshire as part of her work. “There were plenty of vacant boxes around so we can be pretty sure he wasn’t looking to breed there. He knew the chicks were inside, and this time there was a brutal fight. He covered all four nestlings with his wings then picked one up with his tarsus. In the ensuing fight he left one chick injured, and exited the nest dragging another with him.”

OWL DIARIES

Without the camera, the chicks’ disappearance could have led Emily to a more macabre conclusion. “With no other food items in the box, I initially thought that the site was having problems with prey availability, and that the parents might have fed one of their chicks to the other young,” she says. “But the video changed the whole narrative.”