BARN OWL: saved by help from Malaysian rats

BARN owls have long been on the list of our most threatened species but there are signs, at last, that they may have turned the corner away from extinction.

This majestic owl, slightly smaller than the tawny owl but with longer legs and more dramatic colouring, has been a living barometer of the countryside's health.

Numbers plummeted over recent decades as agricultural pesticides laid waste to wildlife, making barn owls' traditional prey more scarce. Widespread destruction of green spaces accelerated the decline, especially since barn owls appeared unable to adapt to an alternative urban lifestyle, unlike tawny owls.

Isolated barns favoured for nesting - hence the name - also vanished by the thousand as developers turned them into desirable homes for humans. As a result, only a few thousand barn owls remain in the wild, scattered in pockets of countryside not yet badly disturbed by traffic or people. However, the continual fall in their numbers appears to have been halted - and, strangely, the bird owes a debt of thanks to rats at the other side of the world.

Voracious Malaysian plantation rats were finally brought under control after local owls were encouraged to breed among them in special nest boxes erected on tall poles.

This simple scheme was so successful that it was later adapted to help our own barn owls with the Hawk and Owl Trust putting up 1,000 pole nest boxes around the country.

Now the Trust has announced:"The decline has been stopped. The population has stabilised and we currently have about 4,000 pairs."

Good news then for barn owls, although a population of only 4,000 pairs means they are still in danger of extinction should their fortunes take a new downturn.

Usually nocturnal, barn owls use their phenomenally strong hearing to first detect rodents rustling through the grass.

Then their powerful eyesight takes over.

Yet even in periods of impenetrable darkness, hearing ability alone is often sufficient to guide them to a foraging vole or rat.

Barn owls routinely fly with their 'undercarriage' lowered, so their murderous talons are instantly ready for action.

These are the tools of their trade with the outer toe on each foot reversible to cut the chances of a struggling victim managing to escape.

Eerily silent in flight with distinctive white and pale brown plumage, barn owls can appear almost ghostly creatures if spotted at dawn or dusk.

The overall effect can be bewitching, as recorded by nineteenth century poet George Meredith:"Lovely are the curves of the white owl sweeping wavy in the dusk, lit by one large star."

Thanks to the rats of Malaysia, such visions might not become a thing of the past after all.