I found a dead barn owl this evening, laying on the floor of our store shed at Rhos Llawrcwrt National Nature Reserve. I had'nt been into the shed since before Christmas. The owl must have flown in through a window we keep open. This bird, still so beautiful even in death, was perfect, not a feather out of place - but totally emaciated. I imagine it just fell from its perch on one of the beams. The BTO website says their Ringing Office had 54 recoveries of dead barn owls for the first 23 days of December and they were expecting the monthly total to exceed 100. I guess this will be but a tiny proportion of the total barn owl mortality this winter.
David Wheeler