Barry Mill

We welcome school visits at Barry Mill. For more information, please see our Learning pages.

Barry Mill is a beautiful spot to hire for a wedding or private function – either inside or outdoors!

Fantastic five at Barry Mill

Barry Mill is all about water. The mill is fed by the Barry Burn, which is dammed at a point above some woodland, creating a pond that provides insect life to feed a rich diversity of bats and birds. Here are our top wildlife species to look out for when you’re exploring our trails. Each has a ‘how easy to see?’ rating, a fun fact and a top tip for when and where to look.

Otter

Seeing an otter is an unforgettable experience. Perhaps because they’re semi-nocturnal and they tend to hide underwater when we’re around, we feel privileged to get a glimpse of them. Otters are playful creatures, something in addition to their cute appearance that endears them to us. At Barry Mill they’re very much in evidence near the burn. Look for a slight movement on the water surface as they glide through it, ears flat on their head. Their eyes are set very high up on their head, so most of it can be underwater.

Fact: Otters eat frogs and small fish; in murky water, they can detect prey with their very sensitive whiskers.

How easy is it to spot? DIFFICULT
Otters are present all year round – look out on boulders for their spraint (poo), which is distinctive with visible bones in it

Tawny owl

On a summer’s evening you might hear the call of a tawny owl from the woodland nearby. Tawny owls are most easily identified when they are vocal in autumn and early winter during their mating period, but they can also be seen swooping into open areas at dusk to feed on voles.

Fact: It is widely believed that this owl calls twit twoo, but in fact it is a call and reply. The male twits and then the female twoos in response.

How easy is it to spot? MEDIUM
Tawny owls are present at Barry Mill all year round and are most commonly seen at dusk.

Common pipistrelle bat

The common pipistrelle bat is a small mammal, but makes up for its size by its spectacular acrobatic flying ability. These animals are frequent flyers at night, and it is a breathtaking spectacle to see them take to the sky at dusk. They enjoy the woodland environment and use the edges of buildings and trees to collect insects on the wing.

Fact: Common pipistrelles can eat up to 3,000 midges in one night!

How easy is it to spot? EASY
Common pipistrelles can be seen at Barry Mill from May to September.

Kingfisher

Keep watching the stream at Barry Mill, or at least the pond area, and you might be lucky enough to see a flash of blue. This will be the kingfisher. Photographers are known to wait patiently in sunshine and drizzle to picture these beautiful birds. If snapped, the resulting image can be stunning. These sparrow-sized, agile fishers have an orange and white head-stripe and an orange breast. Colourful indeed!

Fact: They nest in burrows in riverbanks.

How easy is it to spot? MEDIUM
Look for kingfishers in summer, perched on branches or flying low over the water.

Roe deer

Roe deer abound in the woods surrounding Barry Mill. In autumn, you may hear them bark, or you may see them as they cross from one woodland compartment to another or browse in nearby fields. The males (bucks) grow antlers, which are soon covered in a soft velvet material. Evidence of these young bucks can be seen in the damage caused to small trees by bucks ‘fraying’ (a sort of threshing motion to remove the velvet from their antlers).

Fact: The female has a heart-shaped white tail, whilst the male has a kidney-shaped tail.

How easy is it to spot? EASY
Roe deer can be seen all year round at Barry Mill.