Barn owl numbers in Cambridgeshire are on the increase, and this year we have had a brood of four chicks in our Barn Owl box in 'Owl Barn' (see News and Events). Barn owls need a large area of land to hunt for food - about 1km during the breeding season and 3km in the winter - and hunt mainly on grassland, field margins, hedgerows and stubble fields where small mammals are abundant. This makes our farm an ideal hunting-ground.

Little owls are the smallest British Owl. They are an introduced species to the UK, but have been established for more than 100 years. Several Little Owls could be seen hunting daily on the farm last year, although none have been spotted this year. Perhaps this is because they have nested elsewhere - they like to nest in tree holes, old walls and rabbit burrows - we don't have many of these on the farm.

Green woodpeckers are the largest British woodpeckers, and regularly to be seen in our garden, perching on the side of fenceposts and emitting their distinctive 'peeu, peeu' laughing call. Unlike other woodpeckers, they do not 'drum' with their beaks. UK populations have been steadily increasing since 1966.

Lapwing populations in the UK have been declining since the 1980s,caused by the loss of mixed farming and spring cropping, and the intensification of grassland management. However, large numbers of lapwings can be seen feeding on the farm in spring, and during the breeding season it is often necessary to mark the ground-level nests with a tall stick in order to avoid them in the tractor.

The UK Linnet population fell by over half between 1970 and 1998, but is now beginning to recover. Nest failure is a  problem for this species, possibly due to the lack of suitable dense hedges. We have plenty of hedge on the farm, and with 1.5km of new hedge and another 1.5km still to be planted, we can expect to see a lot more linnets in the coming years.

Due to the reduction of damp habitats and a decline in insects and seed on farmland, Reed Bunting numbers fell by 54% between 1970 and 1988. Last year we re-profiled a section of drainage ditch in one of our fields set aside for wildlife conservation. This portion of ditch now has a higher abundance of reeds (most of the other ditches are dominated by reed mace) and a pair of Reed Buntings have been spotted there, as well as individuals at other sites around the farm.