Despite its dramatic folk name as 'the harbinger of death', the barn owl is stunningly handsome and one of the most evocative of all our Suffolk birds, as Mick Wright explains.

As daylight gives way to dusk, a ghostly silhouette silently slips over a hedge to sally effortlessly over rough grassland in search of unsuspecting prey. When darkness finally blankets the end of the day a mind-curdling, eerie, drawn-out screech penetrates the farmland. A bird of the night - the time when evil deeds are done - it is no wonder that in folklore the barn owl won the reputation (fully undeserved!) as the 'harbinger of death'.

During the early 1900s the barn owl was thought to be well distributed and considered to be the most common of the owls. However, from around 1945 numbers fell dramatically. The owls' favourite haunting grounds include rank grassland where it finds its quarry of small mammals such as voles, mice and shrews. However, since 1939 a hefty 96% of Suffolk's unimproved grassland has been lost. This has been due to the fragmentation of rough grassland, caused by modern agriculture, and the intensive management of field margins, watercourses, hedgerows, woodland edges and roadside verges. It is this loss of habitat that has largely been to blame for the barn owls' decline.

A reduction in farmyard foraging due to improvements in the methods of handling grain and the lethal effects of organochlorine pesticides have also taken their toll. The construction of major new road networks not only fragmented habitat but also enabled traffic to travel faster, resulting in more road deaths.

The bird is predominately sedentary and may breed in almost any month of the year. Although no nest is actually built, the nesting site - which may be situated in a hollow tree or appropriate building (such as the traditional farm barn) - is reused each year. Usually between four and seven eggs are laid and, in years where prey like voles are plentiful, there may be a second brood. The young are cared for and fed by both parents and become independent between three and five weeks after fledging.

Results of a recent survey of breeding raptors and owls conducted by the Suffolk Ornithologists' Group between 1995 - 1998 suggest an increase in the number of breeding barn owls, which is great news. Today there is estimated to be around 90 breeding pairs - a vast improvement on 1971 when there were only eight pairs in Suffolk! Almost every observation has been made within a river corridor and there was a distribution bias towards the east of the county.

As one of Suffolk's characteristic species, targets for the barn owl have been included in Suffolk's Biodiversity Action Plan to stimulate conservation action. In order to make sure the owls' recovery continues, the county's remaining rough grassland must be protected, more suitable habitats created and restored, sympathetic farmland practices of headlands, field margins and wildlife corridors encouraged and, of course, awareness of the needs of the barn owl promoted. To see this owl recover its former numbers throughout Suffolk is a challenge worth striving for. It is up to each and every one of us to help.