The introduction of barn owls to control rodent populations in the UK is a new technique that is being tested across the eastern c...
Case Studies
Under the cover of darkness, a shadow silently swoops down from the trees and across a field. Rabbits don't have a chance, mice might as well be fish in a barrel.
Meet the latest wave in pest control. It's called Tyto alba - otherwise known as the barn owl.
Following the success of a number of programs in Cambridgeshire, which involved the installation of owl boxes on farmland, further owl boxes are to be installed across the U.K. countryside in a bid to control rural rodent populations.
The diet of this bird of prey largely consists of rats, mice, shrews, moles and voles. A single adult bird may consume between one to seven rodents per night; a nesting pair and their young can eat thousands of rodents per year.
The use of owl boxes, it is hoped, will encourage the spread of a more natural rodent control method than the potentially harmful poisons that are often the only other option.
Obviously, the use of birds of prey to control rodent populations is a long term view and can take a number of years for a barn owl population to become established in your area. In addition, any area that is to accomodate barn owls requires that people ensure that no one in the area is using rat poison so as not to mistakenly poison any owls that take up roost.
Therefore only non-chemical methods should be employed:
One of the aims of the project is to reduce the use of pest-killing poisons that can undesirable side effects and is certainly a case of bringing back the old-fashioned pest control methods that really work to create a natural balance in the environment.