Barn Owl Tyto alba
Breeding distribution change
Scarce but widespread resident, increasing again after serious decline
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Barn Owl maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows where changes occurred in the breeding season distribution of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Gains and improvements
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
51
6%
Present to breeding
19
2%
Absent to breeding
110
12%
No change
Status
Nos tetrads
Present in both
4
<1%
Breeding in both
120
13%
Losses and declines
Status
Nos tetrads
Present to absent
49
5%
Breeding to present
14
2%
Breeding to absent
48
5%
Barn Owls, the only representative of the Tytonidae family found in Europe, are the most cosmopolitan of all owls, being found in most of the Americas north to southern Canada, in western and central Europe, in much of Africa, patchily in southern Asia from Turkey to Vietnam and Malaysia, down to Australia and on many islands of the Caribbean, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and southwest Pacific. There are over 30 sub-species; the one found in western Europe is the nominate race Tyto a. alba.
Barn Owls' plumage has evolved to make them silent in flight but this has also had the effect of reducing their natural insulation and they are not well adapted to prolonged periods of severe weather. This explains their absence from more northerly latitudes; in Britain few of them nest north of central Scotland or in the uplands of northern England and Wales.
In the first half of the 19th century Barn Owls were regarded as common in Britain but by the end of the century numbers were reported to be declining, a trend that continued well into the 20th century. A decrease of 37% was recorded in population distribution between the 1968-72 Breeding Atlas and the 1988-91 Breeding Atlas. Possible causes included habitat loss, pesticide poisoning loss of suitable nesting sites and a reduction in the availability of small rodents as a result of improved farming techniques. By the end of the century though numbers had stabilised, largely because of the widespread deployment of nest boxes - in 2000 it was estimated that between 75 and 80% of known Barn Owls in the UK were nesting in boxes. In Wiltshire, where there are a number of active next-box schemes, numbers are increasing: Birds of Wiltshire recorded Barn Owls in summer in 254 tetrads, with breeding confirmed or probable in 182 of them; WTA2 reported them in 318 tetrads with breeding in 249.
References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.