Welcome to the Suffolk Community Barn owl project

As I sit at home recuperating from my recent operation, I have had lots of time to reflect on our achievements so far.  Firstly, my huge thanks to those of you that have sent your best wishes and speedy recovery messages.  I am truly progressing well and already having the odd day out doing what I enjoy most, birdwatching and recording.

That’s enough about me as I want to share with you all the success that we have achieved with the Barn Owl Project.

You may well be aware that 250 boxes erected in our first year in so many communities throughout the county.  So far we have been blessed with an extremely warm spring, which has encouraged the Barn Owls to make an early start to this current breeding season.  A significant proportion of our boxes have been checked by our monitors (accredited agents) and early indications show that most of these newly-provided homes have been occupied.

From the outset of this project, you may remember that our vision statement was “Supporting Barn Owl Families for Future Generations”.  A lot of effort was also put into involving the Suffolk community, with the hope that this was a project that you would all take into your hearts, and you did!  As a result, I am confident that Barn Owls have a promising future and will always be a part of our local environment.

It is for this reason, and our eagerness to ensure that this project goes from strength to strength, that we were delighted when the Suffolk Wildlife Trust became involved and complimented us all on our good work.  As a group, we took the opportunity to seek their advice on managing what had become such a large but hugely successful project.  As the project developed, it was agreed by all concerned that it would be best placed in SWT’s capable hands to ensure its longevity for the Suffolk community.

SWT welcomed all the original team under their umbrella and proudly announced their involvement at this year’s Suffolk Show.  New leaflets have been printed and Oka Russell has been appointed as SWT’s Project Manager mainly due to her professional capabilities, but also because she too has such a huge passion for Barn Owls.

In the short time that SWT has had this project under its wing, our partnership with the Lowestoft-based disabled organisation SOLD (Strategic Objectives for the Local Disabled) has been further strengthened.  By way of a Memorandum of Understanding, they now receive regular work, which means that we are better placed to cope with huge peaks in demand for nestboxes that we witnessed last autumn.

I wish to thank all of you who kindly accepted the SWT’s invitation to attend two training sessions for nestbox monitoring.  Attendees are now accredited agents, under my personal ringing licence, which is administered by the BTO.  The BTO are also delighted to be forging relationships with both the SWT and this project.

Box-making sessions have been held at Lackford and at the Field Studies Centre at Flatford.   Both events were extremely successful and one of the boxes made and erected at Flatford earlier this year already hosts a family of Barn Owls at Flatford, which will be ringed later this week.

Please note that the old Sogbop website has been revamped.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank James Cracknell for all his hard work.  I would also like to thank Kerry Stranix at SWT who is in the process of putting together a portfolio for the project.  This will sit on SWT’s main website, so please don’t leave it too long before you visit this site again.  

Finally, it is my sincere hope that you have enjoyed scanning these pages and if you want to become involved, please do use the email facility or simply telephone Oka on Wildline 01473 890089.  She will be delighted to also answer any questions or queries that you may have.

Steve Piotrowski - Project Manager