Mixed farmland, open country, bogs and marshes. Nests in barns, church towers, holes in trees, etc. Drops on to small rodents, birds, beetles, etc.
Flight is silent through the effect of extra soft, fringed flight feathers.
Once a common feature of the countryside in Britain, the sight of a Barn Owl hunting silently along hedgerows and across grassland at twilight has become all too rare in recent years. The general decline in Barn Owl populations is related to changing land uses in Britain in recent decades. The removal of hedges, grassland, ditches, woodlands and wetlands through agricultural changes, residential development and road building have removed nesting and hunting areas for the owl, and its prey. Bracknell Forest Countryside Service are actively involved in conserving the Barn Owl in the Borough, through providing advice to landowners, and putting up appropriate nest boxes. Barn Owls are known to be present in Binfield, Warfield, Winkfield and Sandhurst.