Owls

[Elen Sentier]

So good this autumn, the owls sing most nights and it's just wonderful to listen. They come really close too, there's an old pine tree and a couple of 60 yr old poplars right by my bedroom window where they call from, only about 3-4 yards away. Both male and female tawny owls tonight, sounded like there were maybe half a dozen different voices in the garden. Some of them are further away, like 70 yards down to the big ash and walnut trees. I have had one actually perch on the top of the open bedroom window and call - a female yipping - but not tonight. Wish she'd visit again ...

Sat here in bed is nearly as good as being out there ...

PS - I do live in the back of beyond, 3/4 of a mile from any road and that one is only a not well-used B road.

 

[Barn Owl]

Love listening to them too Elen.
I'm in a village but can hear them round about on quiet nights when out the back door.

 

[DavidJT]

Heard some around the village tonight whilst getting in the firewood. Magical with the moonlight, and autum smells in the air.

 

[treadlightly]

I love listening to them in the woods at night.

 

[jackcbr]

we have a resident barn owl in the field opposite us. Often see him hunting at dusk and swooping low by the fence line. Even had a sparrowhawk finish its kill in the back garden the other weekend. almost glad I had the washing up to do otherwise would have missed it.

 

[Path Finder]

Merlin my Eagle Owl calls throughout the night I love hearing him call, sometimes he spends nights with me in the woods.

 

[Elen Sentier]

we have a resident barn owl in the field opposite us. Often see him hunting at dusk and swooping low by the fence line. Even had a sparrowhawk finish its kill in the back garden the other weekend. almost glad I had the washing up to do otherwise would have missed it.

Oh envy !!! We do get barn owls around here but agribusiness has buggered the habitat and the barns are continuously full of cattle.

We have sparrowhawks in the garden regularly, amazing flyers especially when they appear to crash into the hedge after prey. Ours are sucessful hunters and we feel very privileged that they find our garden (1/2 acre) a worthwhile regular hunting ground - we must be getting something right if the ecosystem is working well all the way up .

We also get peregrines, perhaps from Symonds Yat, ravens are fairly regular too and this summer we had a red kite circling over us. That put the resident buzzard pair in a right old tizz, up to then they'd thought they were the biggest things in the sky . We've had resident buzzards nesting in a tree about 1/4 mile away near the spring, for all the 13 yrs we've been here. There's an ample supply of rabbits so some years 2 chicks make it to adulthood, wasn't so good this year probably due to the rain.

 

[jackcbr]

am quite lucky, there are several breading pairs of buzzards in the wood across from the field. A friend of ours has a nesting peregrine that he can watch from his back bedroom. Throw in the roe deer and it's not a bad place to just sit and watch.

 

[Elen Sentier]

Lucky wottsit! Dammit! That's just TOO good

A thought - how far can you throw a roe deer ???

 

[Bushwhacker]

Jays also mimick Tawny owls, they're pretty damned good at it too.

 

[Elen Sentier]

Jays also mimick Tawny owls, they're pretty damned good at it too.

What else would one expect of the oldest corvid ?

 

[blacktimberwolf]

I have tawny, little & barn owls in the vicinity..............even had a breeding pair of long eared owls nesting in the garden one year & was very fortunate to witness the parents bring a young live rabbit for three of their offspring to 'practice on' not 2 meters from a downstairs window. All the rabbits in the area died off about 15 years ago with the myxo. so no chance of seeing that again. Buzzard & hen harrier numbers have dwindled too since the bunnies have become extinct.

 

[Elen Sentier]

I have tawny, little & barn owls in the vicinity..............even had a breeding pair of long eared owls nesting in the garden one year & was very fortunate to witness the parents bring a young live rabbit for three of their offspring to 'practice on' not 2 meters from a downstairs window. All the rabbits in the area died off about 15 years ago with the myxo. so no chance of seeing that again. Buzzard & hen harrier numbers have dwindled too since the bunnies have become extinct.

Never seen a long-eared owl in the wild. Very rarely see hen harriers now. Saw one 3 yrs back on Exmoor, came and circled us at the stone circle on Withy Hill, amazing experience. As he came in I thought at first it was a big seagull ... then I got the message. One of those moments ...

 

[Bonzo Frog]

Jays also mimick Tawny owls, they're pretty damned good at it too.

I didn't know that. Do Jays call at night though? I live right on the edge of a large estate but I'm lucky enough to have a "nature reserve" (woods with a stream but I'm not complaining) next to us and often hear Tawny owls and buzzards during the day.

 

[Bushwhacker]

I didn't know that. Do Jays call at night though? I live right on the edge of a large estate but I'm lucky enough to have a "nature reserve" (woods with a stream but I'm not complaining) next to us and often hear Tawny owls and buzzards during the day.

It's more a case of, "Are tawnys about in the day?" They have to roost somewhere and the jay is using attack as a form of defence.

Your place sounds similar to mine. I'm backed onto a very nice SSSI site.

 

[jackcbr]

Lucky wottsit! Dammit! That's just TOO good

A thought - how far can you throw a roe deer ???

Further than you'd think. All this is within a couple of miles of gatwick (bar the peregrines, they are Dorking way). Sometimes you've just got to sit and wait for nature to come to you. It's there, but people these days can't wait for it to get use to them invading and settle back down. I've got a little shelter on a small permission wood that I sometimes just chill out at. Had a black mink less than 2 metres from me, countless rabbits and roe deer almost brush me out of my hammock whilst camping up there.

Walking in a nearby wood a while back I sat to read a book and let some dog walkers get some distance from me. I then found that I was being observed by a buzzard in the tree opposite me. Don't know how much time I lost just sat there, but the buzzard was still there when I left. He'd got use to me being there and didn't mind me moving off.

Think I'll have to go sit in the wood this weekend now.

 

[fishfish]

my first hang int local woods was alive with them!

 

[Bowlander]

We get all the UK species of owl around here, apart from Snowy's.

The eagle owls that nest are an impressive sight but my favourite are the long eareds. The tawnys are so noisy they wake my son up, and we've even had them sat on the velux window above our bed.

 

[nuggets]

Was talking to a fella once, displaying owls and he reckons the barn owl was brought over to england after the crusades as a trophy or prize ?? Its the only `british` owl without feathers on its feet and the plumage colour makes it better suited to the sandy deserts of the middle east !! Still a beautiful bird to look at

 

[Filterhoose]

I live in a fairly remote spot surrounded by woodland and fields so get a wheen of Tawny and Barn Owls.


I was enjoying a wee dangle in my hammock not long ago halfway between snooze and wakefulness after a wee dram. I almost pooped my panties when

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58_8S5-tkoU

this sound woke me from above my tarp. Jings what a fright.

Windy