Roads Authority spend on preventing barn owl deaths

The National Roads Authority (NRA) is being forced to spend thousands of euro to protect low-flying barn owls because of mounting road kill.

The barn owl is red-listed as a ‘bird of conservation concern’ and its range has declined by 39% over a 40-year period in the latest study available.

According to the NRA, over the past number of years barn owl mortality on a number of road types throughout the country has been recorded, particularly on the motorway network.