Book of Leaves

Saving the Barn Owls of Ireland - John Carrig

Book of Leaves

Show Notes

John Carrig is one of the many volunteers behind The Barn Owl project. He's been vital in spreading awareness of what people can do to help the red-listed species, and we delve into all of that here. You can donate, volunteer, and/or sign their petition on rodenticide to help the cause. You can also follow them on Facebook, Twitter/X or Instagram @barnowlprojectireland.

As always, don't forget to follow Book of Leaves on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, leave us a review, and share with a friend x Patreon / Buy Me A Coffee

[04:00] An intro from John and how the Barn Owl Project came to be [08:15] What/who inspired John to care about animals, & the biodiversity crisis in Ireland [15:10] How barn owls live [26:15] How farmers can help barn owls [29:25] Rodenticide & how it affects wildlife [37:50] How the public can help the project

Also mentioned: Ireland’s Wildlife Photographer The Barnowl Trust Birdwatch Ireland Raptor protocol Dr. Barry O’Donoghue NPWS Bat Rehabilitation Ireland Swan rescue Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from Book of Leaves

Oct 12, 2026

Kate Doyle is the founder of EcoKinly and current operator of the Cloth Nappy Library Ireland (who we had on the podcast before!). She isn't just trying to sell reusable nappies and menstruation profucts to people, but to normalise the habit in a variety of ways. It was such an interesting chat! Stay up to date with her on Instagram @ecokinly.

Sep 28, 2026

Louise Lalor is a circular champion in Clonmel, Tipperary. She has set up a permanent Toy Swap Library in a hub called The Circular Square, where there's also regualr repair cafés and eco community events. The work she does is very inspiring and rightly won an award at the Circular.ie awards! Stay up to date with her on Instagram @louiselalor and find the repair cafés here @clonmelrepaircafe.

Sep 14, 2026

Ray Ó Foghlú is the Engagement and Education officer with the charity Hometree. He runs the farmer engagement side of the Illaun Farm-Forest Alliance so we delved into ways in which farmers can access supports to rewild their land in Ireland. We also chat about the art project Dinnseanachas they are currently running. You can donate to their work here or stay up to date with them on Instagram @hometreecharity.

Aug 31, 2026

Seán Ó Sullivan is the creator of the well known eco Irish notebook business, Badly Made Books, which has morphed into a new venture called Agus Arís. While a portion of this chat is about the need for sustainable printing practices, we delve a lot into the struggles of keeping a small business sustainable for the staff as well. Seán had so much great advice to share! You can stay up to date with his new venture on Instagram @and.agusaris.

Aug 17, 2026

Jeffrey Roe is the CEO of TOG which have been leading the way in cultivating skill sharing around making and repairing. They have been hosting repair cafés since 2014, so before many of us even knew of the term! Jeffrey also set up the brilliant Dublin Maker festival which we chat about as well. I've linked everything below but you can also stay up to date with TOG via Instagram @toghackerspace.

See all episodes →