A webcam at the Lorton Meadows nature reserve near Weymouth is now live, giving viewers the chance to watch a pair of barn owls nest and raise their chicks.

The webcam has been upgraded for 2022, and now the owls can be viewed in colour and at a much higher definition. In previous years, the webcam has proven very popular, with tens of thousands of viewers following the progress of the barn owls and witnessing first-hand their intriguing behaviours, including preening, mating and eating, and hearing their characteristic chittering, screeching or hissing, all live via the webcam.

This year, the pair have already produced four eggs and there may well be more to follow. Webcam followers can comment on the dedicated barn owl webcam facebook page @DWTBarnOwlWebCam to share what they’ve seen and help build a picture of how the pair are getting on.

Dorset Wildlife Trust’s landowner liaison officer, Emily Newton, said: “The new, upgraded webcam is giving us the opportunity to see the barn owls so much more clearly and it’s very exciting to be able to view this pair already settling into their nest. We are very much hoping that they will successfully breed this year – the rougher grassland fields at Lorton Meadows provide plentiful supplies of food such as field vole to help them to rear their young. Other rough grassland sites in Dorset will also support prey for the barn owls – in Dorset we work with farmers and advise them to manage grass margins and field corners to increase hunting habitat for species such as owls.”

To watch the barn owls live, visit www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlifewebcam

If you would like to adopt a barn owl, you can do so at www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/shop