A WILDLIFE trust has been thrilled by the breeding success of a number of special birds at its headquarters near Malpas.

Broxton Barn Owl group visited Bickley Hall Farm to check out the barn owl boxes which Cheshire Wildlife Trust has positioned around the site. This year is the first time that the group has discovered two of the boxes being occupied with adults and chicks.

During the visit the group also recorded and ringed a nest of five kestrel chicks that was located close-by.

Ben Gregory, southern area and part of the expert conservation team at Cheshire Wildlife Trust. “This was extremely surprising as barn owls and kestrels don’t usually tolerate each other, so finding them nesting successfully about 6ft away from each other is fairly unheard of.

“Broxton Barn Owl Group are a voluntary organisation who work tirelessly to erect barn owl nest boxes and monitor barn owl numbers in Cheshire – it is fantastic that we have their support to help monitor the boxes at our nest sites at our reserves.”

A further two next boxes were successful this year at the Trust’s Gowy Meadows Nature Reserve – with a total of six chicks between two next boxes. There have also been developments with the smaller feathered rarities at Bickley Hall Farm. This is the first year the Trust have seen breeding success of tree sparrows at the farm. Tree sparrows have seen huge declines (93 per cent decline between 1970 and 2008) and have the unenviable status of being a ‘red-listed’ bird of conservation concern, like the barn owl.

Wildlife-friendly field margins and hedgerows are a key feature at Bickley Hall

“As part of our Countryside Stewardship scheme at Bickley Hall Farm we do everything we can to support a whole host of farmland birds and tree sparrow are no exception,” Mr Gregory added

“Every year we plant five acres of seed rich crops, specifically for farmland birds, and last year we put up forty tree sparrow nest boxes around the farm. We were thrilled to see that our hard work has paid off and we have been able to confirm that tree sparrows have bred here, and not only that they’ve taken up residence in some of our new boxes.”