In this section I will try to help
you decide what is the best position to locate the flight in your garden.
As you have seen in the previous
page the size of flights required for your chosen owls .
First lets look at your garden, how is it used and how much available space have you.
If you intend to still use the garden
for say BBQ's and summer parties it would be better to have the flight
placed away from the main activity area of your garden with perhaps a good
climbing plant planted near-by that will eventually grow up around the
flight to give the birds some privacy
If you have the neighbourhood kids
football team practising in your garden at the weekends and school holidays
then I would suggest a separate walled area in which to build your flight.
But overall I would suggest that
a quite place in your garden which gets plenty of light and gives the owls
good all round visibility (ie the owls can see you approaching) would be
as good a place as any.
Other points to consider are whether
you have a wall to build the flight against, the wall will act as one side
of your flight and therefore saving both time and money in building the
flight.
Security of the birds has also
to be considered, if the flight is too far away and can not be seen from
the house it will be difficult to keep a watchful eye on your birds.
Cats can be another problem, if
you live in a neighbourhood that is inhabited by 'cat lovers' and every
other house has at least one cat, then you are going to have to take steps
to dissuade the cats from visiting your garden especially your flights.
There are a few methods and a few devices on sale that claim to keep cat
away. I would suggest that you look into all of these and find the best
method that that suites your requirements. I personally use a metal silhouette
of a cat painted black and two marbles for its eyes, these are mounted
on top of the flights and these coupled with a dog that absolutely detests
cats seem to have worked so far.
More points to consider are:
Don't forget the neighbours they may not take too kindly to the sound of two owls singing a duet all night long, which can happen during the breeding season. So please talk to your neighbours and let them know your intention.
Don't forget to consider planning permission, some local authorities do not allow you to build a structure over 1.9 m high so its worth checking with them before you build your flight.
And finally do not forget that the total free area required to build your flight will be bigger than the finished size. So don't skimp on the space.