Barn owls have had their worst breeding season in decades after extreme weather conditions have preventing pairing.
In the wake of severe weather, including 2012’s washout summer and this year’s cold spring, the West Sussex branch of the Barn Owl Trust has reported only five of its 90 sites have nests in this year, compared to about 55 nests on average.
Experts believe that a run of extreme weather conditions in recent years, with bitterly cold winters in 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 and the wet summers in 2010 and 2011, has drastically reduced numbers of the farmland bird.
Jess Price, Sussex Wildlife Trust conservation officer, said: “The rain means that the owls main food source is not available.
“The lack of food means that the owls’ energy is low and they simply do not have the motivation to pair or nurture owlets.”
In West Sussex, new born owls are often tagged for monitoring purposes. This year, after visiting 100 boxes, only one owlet was found by the Sussex Wildlife Trust.
The Barn Owl Trust have said nests where pairs have managed to survive and breed had an average of just two owlets in the nest rather than the four or five needed for populations to recover.
Barn Owl Trust spokesman David Ramden said: “The figures showed barn owls could not cope with extreme weather and we seem to have had nothing but extremes the last few years.
“The weather has continued to have an impact into this year, with the icy, snowy conditions in March.”
Miss Price believes it is not all doom and gloom for the owls.
She said the owls may “bounce back” after the glorious sunshine we have been experiencing has allowed them time to feed up and regain strength.
The impacts of the extreme weather come on top of long term declines for barn owls, with estimates of 70 per cent falls in numbers between the 1930s and 1980s as a result of a number of factors such as more intensive farming and loss of hedgerows, meadows and old farm buildings.
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