A Tawny I Didn't Want To See - on 26th July, 2011

A two hour stint in my hide at my Little Owl Site No.09 yielded no owls at all - only Tree Sparrows, a Whitethroat, and a probable Corn Bunting, so I moved onto my LO Site No.17, near Twycross. I arrived to find an adult bird on one of their favourite perches (as shown below) and then, just as I was contemplating setting up my hide, one of the brothers who own the farm came over for a chat.

Little Owl - my Site No.17

Whilst we leant on the gate and nattered, one of the adult birds was checking us out at a distance, but flew off after a while. After our chat, during which he told me of a nearby farm where he had seen Little Owls in the past, I had a quick look around to see if I could find an owl, but with no luck so I decided to go and follow up his tip. On the way there, I spotted something that I was not happy to see - a Tawny Owl dead in the road.

Tawny Owl (deceased) - near Bilstone

It seems to me that owls are, unfortunately, somewhat prone to road accidents. It was only four weeks prior to this that I'd found a dead Little Owl in the road by my Site No.05. It was almost exactly 12 months ago that I'd had to anchor up sharply in my car for a Tawny sitting in the road on a fine evening.

The farmer at the tip-off location seemed a little reluctant at first, but opened up somewhat after a short chat. He'd seen owls in the past, but not this year. I spent a while looking round, but to no avail. After this I set off back towards home, feeling a bit down because of the Tawny. I stopped off on my local patch to find one of the adult Little Owls at my Site No.02 up on the chimney (no photos taken). I did get a distant shot of a female Blackcap, however.

Blackcap (female) - near Packington