ABOUT
THE  PROJECT

 The Barn Owl project was set up in January 2019 to help with conservation of Barn Owls in Ireland. The founder of the project John Carrig is a published wildlife photographer and has been involved in wildlife conservation and rescue for many years. John now holds the position of director of the Barn Owl project.

 

Our team members are: Bird of prey specialist Alessandra Oliveto (vet nurse and environment manager) who has been involved in conservation and rehabilitation of birds of prey all over the world, as well as being a member of the IUCN - CEM (Commission on Ecosystem management ), and our soft release manager Dan Doorhy who has been involved in helping Barn Owls make a comeback in Galway he is also conservation officer on our 600 acre soft release site .

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Susan Kerwin is a licenced wildlife rehabilitator and bat specialist who founded Bat Rehabilitation Ireland (Bat Rehab Ireland) in 2019. The rescue then went on to receive charity status in 2022. Susan also an expert in birds of prey and their rehabilitation this expertise was build up over her years as a falconer. Susan also give educational talks to Vets on wildlife care. 

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We have some people involved with the project who play important roles and wish to remain anonymous. We believe if you can get the local communities involved in conservation we stand a chance of at least slowing the rate at which wildlife is disappearing from Ireland.

 

The project  is working on many fronts locating unregistered nest sites so the juveniles can be ringed and documented .We educate by giving school/community talks, working with farmers and landowners on how to promote Barn Owls in their areas . We looked at the big problems facing Barn Owls in Ireland, such as secondary poisoning, lack of nest sites, and road collisions being the biggest. We work with like minded organization's on rewilding and habitat renewal. Setting up groups in each county to drive the project is one of our key goals. We hope in time to emulate and collaborate with the Barn Owl Trust in the UK.