Owls

Three species of Owl have been recorded on the wildlife site: Barn Owl, Tawny Owl and Little Owl.

The beautiful Barn Owl (Tyto alba) is an uncommon resident in Derbyshire. They have special legal protection under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. On the rare occasions we have recorded Barn Owls at Downlee Lodge it has often been in photographs taken under infra-red light after dark. In 2017 there were several reports of Barn Owls hunting in the area during daylight, so we installed a barn owl box in the barn at Downlee Lodge. Barn owls feed mainly on small mammals and regurgitate dark coloured pellets of fur and bones that they cannot digest. To our surprise, two years after installing the owl box, in spring 2019 we found barn owl pellets in the barn and after a few attempts photographed a visiting barn owl after dark on one occasion. There were no obvious signs of Barn Owls here after that until spring 2021 when pellets and excreta were observed again and the camera trap provided pictures, see below, of a few visits to the owl box, including by a pair of Barn Owls in the dead of night. There is no evidence of them nesting here yet. Recently (summer 2022) on one occasion we saw a Barn Owl hunting at dusk over the Wildflower Meadow and on another occasion resting on a fence in Field Corner W4, in broad daylight.

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) is on the Amber List of birds of Conservation Concern. Tawny Owls are heard here occasionally in the tall trees around Downlee Lodge and have been seen perched on fence posts in the area.

The charming Little Owl (Athene noctua) with its rather fierce expression used to be seen in daylight, most often in a group of trees on the South-Western boundary of Field 3, but they have not been recorded on the Wildlife Site in recent years.