High-tech bid to stop barn owl road carnage

AT RISK: Barn owls can become vulnerable to car strikes as they hunt along the verges

First stage will be to find accident ‘blackspots'

November 2010: National bird of prey conservation charity the Hawk and Owl Trust is starting a new research project in Norfolk. The aim is to help reduce the number of wild owls, particularly barn owls, killed by vehicles on the county's roads.

It is asking people to help by looking out for and reporting any owl or other bird of prey casualties on roadsides.

Device will hopefully deflect birds away from the road

The initial pilot project involves locating ‘blackspots' where the number of owls being struck is particularly high, then installing some high-tech sensors to see if they help to reduce the problem. The sensors, which have been used in trials in Sweden, react to headlights by emitting a noise that deflects wildlife away from the road.

‘We've started by looking for the blackspots where road casualties occur regularly,' explained Nigel Middleton, the trust's conservation officer for East Anglia. ‘Then we plan to install deflectors and hope the noise will alert owls or other birds of prey that could be at risk from the traffic as they hunt along the verges. We'll monitor progress to identify any increase or reduction in owl mortality as a result.

‘Where the deflectors are being trialled on moose in Sweden there's evidence that great grey owl road mortality has also gone down. As far as we know, our project will be the first to use the technology in Britain.'

'A sensible appliance of science'

Welcoming the experiment, Hawk and Owl Trust President Chris Packham said: ‘This seems a really sensible appliance of science and if it works we might see more owls in our countryside. We know from earlier trust research that a significant proportion of the young owl population gets taken out on Britain's roads.'

Anyone seeing a barn owl or other bird of prey casualty on any road verge in Norfolk is asked to report the sightings to the Hawk and Owl Trust via the trust's website www.hawkandowl.org or write to Sculthorpe Moor Community Nature Reserve, Turf Moor Road, Sculthorpe, Fakenham, Norfolk, NR21 9GN.