What they like

Open country with a view. Posts, fences, bare branches. A rough verge where mice run. Make it easy for them: leave edges along fields and meadows wide and messy. Mow less neatly, allow more rough growth. In a park: leave a corner of tall grass and put up a few sturdy stakes or a dead branch as a lookout. Hang a nest box in a quiet spot: high on a barn, tree or silo, with a clear approach for landing.

Ecological importance

The resident mouse-manager. Eats mainly field voles and other voles, and also takes beetles and large insects. Good news for farming and farmyards: fewer mouse outbreaks without chemicals. He themself is prey for larger raptors and owls, and his chicks are vulnerable in poor vole years.

When in the Netherlands

All year round. Many stay here; some wander or migrate in autumn and winter.

Status

A breeding bird that has struggled due to more intensive land use; recovery is possible but requires space for voles, rough vegetation and nesting sites.