A Common Resource - Gower - page 219

FIG 122. Mating blue-tailed damselflies on Fairwood Common. (Harold Grenfell)
The wet heaths also support a wide range of bird species and whitethroat, skylark, linnet, swallow
and goldfinch Carduelis carduelis are frequently recorded. Anthills are also numerous due to the lack of
ploughing and agricultural improvement and the ants in turn provide food for green woodpeckers. Cur-
lew can often be seen on Fairwood Common, where the heathland provides ideal locations for breeding.
Overwintering snipe Gallinago gallinago are not uncommon and barn owls Tyto alba hunt over some of
the commons.
The barn owl was recorded under the name of the 'white owl' in the Swansea Guide of 1802 and in
the late 1890s it was considered to be a regular breeding resident. Persecution in the following decades
and severe winters in the 1940s reduced its numbers, and thereafter populations fluctuated until the late
1970s, when there was a noticeable increase in sightings. Surveys have shown that there are around 10
breedingpairsinGower.Gowerisconsideredtobeastrongholdforthebirdbecause,althoughagricultur-
alchangehasbeenassociatedwithitsdeclineelsewhere,thetraditionalfarmingpracticesinthepeninsula
have allowed it to survive. It is clear, however, that many traditional nesting sites have been lost through
buildingsfallingintoadvanceddecay,whileothershavebeenlostbecauseofdevelopmentforhousing,or
through'maintenance'.AtOxwichchurchandcastle,forexample,renovationworkledtothedesertionof
the site, while at Penmaen they have not been seen since a barn was converted into housing. What is no-
ticeable is that where a nest site has been lost, barn owls appear to have deserted the locality completely.