The simple answer to this question is to find out how many Tawny Owls there are and where they occur. As with other bird species, it is important for us to collect information on population size, breeding ecology, mortality and long-term population trends in order to establish what is happening to a species and to identify mechanisms that may be driving population change.

While many species can be monitored effectively through ongoing annual monitoring programmes, species that are nocturnal are typically more difficult to study. In order to follow the changing fortunes of such species, we need to carry out periodic surveys and the work that we are asking people to support this winter, is one such survey.

As well as revisiting squares last surveyed in 1989 for Tawny Owls, the current survey also wants to gather information on Tawny Owl calling behaviour, something that could prove very useful for future national surveys of this species.