Double delight for barn owls

Two fascinating stories have just emerged about these beautiful birds but first, here is a reminder about the birds themselves. The barn owl is perhaps the best known of the several species which can be found in this country. Its near-white plumage is highly distinctive and is often seen in the glow from motor vehicle headlights at night as the bird hunts its prey of mice, voles and rats.

Although, in those conditions, the bird appears to be pure white, in fact its upper plumage is a soft golden brown very lightly tinged with specks of grey but its underparts and face are pure white. Its feathers are so soft that it flies in almost total silence and for this reason, it developed a rather spooky reputation. This was reinforced by its very eerie cry, something like a shriek, which is often uttered in flight. People walking at night would suddenly see a silent white shape ahead of them and if the light was poor, or their eyesight slightly defective, then this soaring soundless white shape had all the appearances of a ghostly presence.

Little wonder, therefore, that owls - and the barn owl in particular - have long been associated with magic and mystery.

Although these birds were once very common in the countryside, numbers have dwindled over the past half century or so and various suggestions have been put forward as the likely reason. One is the practice of converting disused barns into new houses. Barn owls, as their name indicates, love ruined buildings of all kinds, both for roosting and for nesting - barns, churches, abbeys, castles and follies are among their favourites, but they will also make use of complete buildings, such as church towers, if they can provide suitable accommodation. They will also use holes in cliffs or even trees.

Barns, especially those in isolated places, were ideal for these owls and they were always welcomed by the farmers because they helped reduce the pest population, especially rats and mice. Indeed, many barns would be constructed with a special hole in an upper wall to permit their use by barn owls because farmers and landowners wanted to encourage them to use the premises. Once they had chosen a barn, therefore, they would return to it year after year, both to roost and nest.

It is not only the reduction of the number of old barns that has caused a decline in numbers of barn owls - other factors include loss of habitat, the use of poisonous chemicals on the land and even the increase in fast-moving traffic in country lanes.

Another thing loved and needed by barn owls is plenty of long grass because it is there they find voles and mice, so important to their survival.

As all these factors militated against our resident population of barn owls, so their numbers began to dwindle, but after something like half a century of a reducing population, it seems our barn owls have now ended their years of decline.

This brings me to the first of the current news stories. In an attempt to halt that decline, enthusiasts built special nesting boxes for barn owls and placed them on tall poles across the countryside. They proved successful because they had been positioned on farmland where long grass was allowed to flourish, and so the owls had a ready supply of vermin and a safe place to live. In this way, the decline was halted.

More recently, however, the experts realised that barn owls would often produce a second brood within the year, sometimes larger than their first, but for this they required a second clean nesting site nearby. The Hawk and Owl Trust therefore experimented with sets of two owl nest boxes sited very close to one another - and it has proved a wonderful success. Whereas the first broods numbered only two or three chicks, the second ones were producing as many as a dozen and in this way numbers of barn owls are now thought to be increasing.

The second item of news concerns a barn owl called Sooty. As the name suggests, he is black but he was reared in an owl sanctuary. A black barn owl is undoubtedly a rarity although cases are known where black chicks have been born in the wild. In such cases, their chances of survival are slender because the freak colour causes the parents to neglect the chick and it may die.

In this case, Sooty was hand-reared after rejection by his parents, but he does have a sister called Sweep who is white. Both now live happily together in the New Forest Owl Sanctuary in Hampshire.

We wish them, and all barn owls, the very best for the future.

ONE of the oft-repeated legends associated with the approach of Christmas concerns the famous Holy Thorn of Glastonbury. It is claimed that a hawthorn in Glastonbury comes into bloom around Christmas time, as it has done ever since the time of Christ.

Glastonbury is an attractive small town in Somerset which is the focus for all kinds of legends and mysteries, both Christian and pagan. King Arthur is said to be buried here for example. Some believe this is the real Avalon, the place to which Arthur's body was taken after his death and the famous Holy Grail, brought from Jerusalem by Joseph of Arimathea, is also said to be buried under Chalice Spring on the hill known as Glastonbury Tor. This hill dominates the town and there are wonderful views from the summit.

The town also contains the ruins of an abbey, one of several thought to have been built on the same site since the fifth century. One legend says the first ever Christian church in Britain was built in Glastonbury but the present abbey ruin began its life in the thirteenth century and was not completed until just before the Dissolution. It was finished just in time to be knocked down by Henry VIII's raiders during the Reformation.

Whether there is any truth in the legend that Joseph of Arimathea ever came to Britain or to Glastonbury in particular is something which always prompts argument and discussion, but the story is that he came here to convert the English and while in Glastonbury leant on his staff in deep prayer. The staff immediately took root which Joseph regarded as a sign that he should remain in Glastonbury. He remained there to continue his mission and later, so the story goes, the hawthorn bush which had grown from his staff continued to flourish, but was exceptional because it bloomed at Christmas.

The so-called Holy Thorn grew on Wirral Hill but was destroyed during the Civil War, and a cutting was said to have been planted in the abbey grounds. Descendants from that cutting are said to flourish in Glastonbury and district even today and certainly, a local thorn does produce blossom during the winter months.

The thorn in question is the variety of hawthorn known as biflora, which is popularly known as the Glastonbury thorn and which grows in the Glastonbury area. There is nothing miraculous in this - the biflora naturally comes into bloom during the winter but not necessarily at Christmas.

ON THE subject of plants that produce blossom at odd times, the flowers of the ivy tend to appear later than others, maturing in the late autumn. I was not surprised therefore, when sunny days in November resulted in masses of insects visiting the ivy on our walls. They came at a time when other flowers had ceased to attract insects and they ranged from flies of all kinds to various bees and even a wasp or two.

They would be attracted by the sweet nectar secreted by the ivy flowers at that time. Having been pollinated in this manner, those flowers will produce the familiar small black berries which become very evident during the winter, although as the chill intensifies, these will be eaten by hungry birds.

Now, of course, we might be thinking of bringing some ivy indoors over the Christmas period - it keeps goblins at bay!