Ongoing Barn Owl surveys this summer are finding that many nests around the country have either been abandoned or the adults are present but have not bred. Some sites where the adults failed to breed (including one or two nest boxes), were taken over by Jackdaws, but at this site in Co. Kerry, the nest in a chimney, used by Barn Owls in each of the last four years, was taken over by Kestrels.
Recently fledged Kestrel on chimney nest (Davey Farrar).
The young Kestrel peers down into the chimney (Davey Farrar).
The chimney shaft is blocked by an old Jackdaw stick nest, and Barn Owls previously nested about five feet down. Barn Owls would normally see off any Kestrel in the battle for a potential nest site, so it might be that the owls abandoned the site and the Kestrels simply moved in, rather than the Kestrels took it over.
