JIM Denham, who died suddenly at his home in Watlington, was well known by the local farming community for his tireless work to bolster the numbers of barn owls in south Oxfordshire.
The conservation work carried out by the 75-year-old is credited with seeing almost 219 breeding pairs raising about 680 young in the Watlington area.
He was already interested in the birds when he was asked by the South Midlands Barn Owl Conservation Group – which had been operating in parts of Oxfordshire since 1983 – to carry out conservation work including releasing pairs of the birds around his home.
At that time he knew of only one pair of barn owls breeding in the Watlington area, so in 1996 Mr Denham and his brother John began constructing barn owl breeding boxes which were fitted in barns, trees and on telegraph poles.
They also constructed small sheds known as cabins, which were set on four poles three metres off the ground.
Between 1996 and 2001, 13 pairs of barn owls and their young were successfully released under Government licence, but that was withdrawn in 2002.
Despite this, pairs of barn owls continued to breed successfully in the Watlington area between 1996 and 2012 219 pairs raised 680 fledged young.
It was during this period that the results of Mr Denham’s work was published in three peer-reviewed scientific papers on barn owl release, their habitat and food.
Mr Denham was born on June 4, 1937, in Croydon, Surrey, but he moved to Lewknor with his family when he was just one year old.
He left school aged 15 and went to work on a local farm before joining the Army for his national service in Cyprus.
When he returned to Oxfordshire he worked at Pressed Steel for around 15 years and it was during this period, in the 1960s, that he married his wife Jean Chilcott.
When he left Pressed Steel, Mr Denham returned to working on a farm before joining his brother John as a landscape gardener until he retired.
His funeral was held on Friday, February 15, at St Margaret Church, Lewknor, and a collection was made to continue the barn owl conservation.
Anyone wishing to make a contribution to this work can contact John Denham at 24 Watlington Road, Lewknor, Watlington, OX49 5TT.
Mr Denham, who died on Sunday, February 3, is survived by six of his eight brothers, his former wife, his two children Steven and Sharon, and his two grandchildren.