‘Barn Owl Habitat’ – These magical birds have become increasingly rare – and the reasons are all man made. We need barn owls because they are predators, at the top of the food chain. Looking after our barn owls mean that many other small creatures and plants benefit as well. Barn Owls prefer a mixed farming habitat with spinneys, ditches, rough pastures and well managed field margins. They love short tailed voles. Grass that allowed to grow tall in the summer and not cut or grazed will collapse by the autumn. Fresh green blades of grass will then grow up through it and by the following summer most of the first years growth will have died back and formed a ‘litter layer’; this provides Field Voles with the cover they need for their tunnels and nests.