The Barn Owl is one of the most easily recognised of the Owl family. It is a beautiful looking bird with a golden/buff coloured upper, with silver grey and white under parts. It has a distinctive heart shaped face and when seen in flight looks predominantly white. The male Barn Owls have a slightly darker upper and small black spots on the underside.

The Barn Owl is quite graceful in flight with a wing span of about 85cm, though it is only 34cm from head to tail. They hunt whilst airborne as against flying from a perch, and prefer open grassland and parkland to dense vegetation. Contrary to popular belief, they do not hoot, instead it emits a long squeaky screech as well as a hiss. Their diet consists of small mice as well as other small rodents including young rabbits, moles. frogs and small birds.’

They can be found everywhere in the UK apart from the Scottish Highlands. They are relatively common in lowland rural and agricultural areas and can be found on agricultural land around North Yorkshire.

While nocturnal like most owls, Barn owls will often hunt during the day, especially in the winter and you are most likely to be see one hunting over fields and grasslands at dusk or dawn.

According to the British Trust of Ornithology, they are probably the second most common owl in the UK after the Tawny, with an estimated 10,000 pairs in the UK.