Donal Hickey: Barn owl numbers beginning to rise again

Could an invasive species help the native birds?

It is reckoned there are around 200 breeding pairs and 250 chicks, including 50 in Co Cork, that have been ringed so far this year.

Barry's Tea chests can have many uses. At one time in rural areas, hatching hens and their offspring found safety and comfort in them, while some people converted them into drawers, bedside lamps and other furniture.

But children in Ballycahill National School, near Thurles, Co Tipperary, have been successfully turning the Cork company’s tea chests into nest boxes for barn owls in old hay sheds, farm buildings and pole tops.