Editor: The last issue’s Barn Owl project report provoked many positive comments about the volunteers’ efforts, plus this article: Jeff Martin
What’s in a name?
Compare and contrast – two generations of the Hosking family’s photography
I
t was while reading the interesting article on the Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project in the October issue of The Harrier that I noticed Phil Brown’s comment at the end in which he pointed out, somewhat ‘tongue-incheek’, that the Barn Owl in Suffolk should be called the Box Owl.
Why not, was my immediate thought, for if we look at the history of how the Barn Owl got its name, then ‘Box Owl’ would not seem inappropriate. Is Barn Owl an appropriate name? Before we start though, I’ll ask a question. When was the last time you knew of Barn Owls actually nesting in a barn in Suffolk? A few of Suffolk’s older residents will perhaps remember the odd pair nesting in a building, but there won’t be that many who will. Even before the fashion for barn conversions came about, nesting in barns was uncommon in Suffolk and, indeed, in many other parts of southeast England. Parts of Sussex and Norfolk are a little different though. So bearing this in mind, how is it that we have the name Barn Owl at all? Well, despite history being unfashionable these days, it’s always worth travelling back through the records if you want the answer.
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THE HARRIER – December 2012
In the beginning . . . To try and get to the bottom of this, we have to go south, across the border into Essex, to a small village to the south of Braintree called Black Notley, where the naturalist John Ray was born in 1627. Ray was one of the most influential naturalists of his day who, although coming from a very modest background, was fortunate in being able to study at Cambridge University, where he came into contact with Francis Willughby. Even though they came from different backgrounds, they formed a good partnership and together they toured Britain studying its fauna and flora. They spent a lot of time not only in northern Britain, including Scotland, but also in the West Country. Sadly Willughby died in 1672, at the young age of 37, but not before he and Ray had set out to write The Ornithology. This eventually proved to be the first serious attempt at the classification of British birds. The Ornithology (it was written in 3 volumes) was eventually finished by Ray and was subsequently published in 1676. In it the Barn Owl is listed as the ‘Barn Owl, White Owl or Church Owl’ and, while this hesitancy in providing just one name might seem perplexing, nothing with the Barn Owl is straightforward. Evidence for tree nesting The story of why Barn Owls nested in barns in the west and north of Britain, and why they
