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Baby barn owlets are being ringed this month, having been successfully reared, and living in one of several owl boxes funded by a local wind farm in rural Northumberland.

Community Action Northumberland (CAN) has administered the Wingates Wind Farm Community Fund since 2014, which provides grants of more than £40,000 a year, for the local community throughout the life of the wind farm.

At more than 100 grants, over £210,000 has been awarded to projects including improvements to village halls, play parks and sports fields, new facilities and extra-curricular activities for schools and play groups, support for local fairs, cultural and sporting activities.

In recent years, the Wingates Wind Farm Community Fund has provided the Coquetdale group of the Northumberland Wildlife Trust with grants amounting to £4346 to install a total of 138 bird boxes and provide rings suitable for a range of species that are in decline, including barn and tawny owls, kestrels, golden eye and mandarin ducks, redstarts and, most recently, swifts.

Julia Plinston from Community Action Northumberland, which hosts the fund on behalf of Ventient Energy’s Wind Farm, spoke of the experience and said: “Many thanks to Phil (British Trust for Ornithology licensed bird ringer) and his wife Alison for taking me out with them when they went to ring these latest babies.

"I was delighted to witness the hard work and dedication of this group of volunteers and to learn about the impact of these nest boxes make. It was such a privilege to meet two beautiful barn owlets myself.”

The barn owl nest boxes have been located in areas close to good hunting habitat with the aim of increasing numbers to help the population survive years when there is bad weather or low food availability.

Each year, the boxes are checked, and the young birds are ringed so volunteers can learn more about the population in the future.

Phil, a licensed bird ringer, and Alison of the Coquetdale Group of the Northumberland Wildlife Trust.

To find out the areas the Wingates Wind Farm Community fund covers and how to apply visit the CAN website.

Many wind farms in Northumberland offer funding for local community projects and you can find the ones in your area with an interactive map compiled by CAN and National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE). It shows the catchment areas they cover and you can access the map with this link.

Barn owls benefit from Northumberland wind farm funding