Barn owls are iconic UK wildlife but face significant welfare challenges from road traffic mortality and habitat loss on intensively managed farmland.
Barn owl road mortality is a welfare crisis that is amenable to targeted intervention. Owls hunting over roadside verges and field margins adjacent to roads are killed by vehicle strikes at a rate that suppresses population recovery. Road ecology measures including planting shrubs to raise owl flight height over roads, reducing roadside verge width, and installing owl diverters in high-mortality locations have been shown to reduce mortality. Individual welfare is also affected by food availability - lean winters with deep snow cover that prevents hunting cause starvation in birds that cannot find sufficient voles through the snow surface.