Lucky Sunday - on 29th June, 2014

On Sunday 29th June, I went out for an evening's owl watching. My main objective was to try and photograph some juvenile Little Owls and, in that respect, I totally failed. The evening was, however, far from a washout!

It was dull cool weather when I left home, but the forecast was for better later. At the first Little Owl site (No.47) I came to, an adult was out in the nest tree but, although I know there's a pair here, there's no sign yet of any youngsters.

Little Owl - my Site No.47

By the time I'd reached my Site No.44, a few minutes later, it had started to rain. Fortunately an owl was out, although well tucked in to protect itself from the elements. It looked tired!

Little Owl - my Site No.44

It was still raining later when, whilst talking to the farmer at Site No.41 who said that he'd not seen the owls for a while, a Little Owl flew across the road, about 150 metres away, and onto a distant telegraph pole. I didn't try for any photos.

At my Site No.34 it was still raining but an adult was out in the distant nest tree. I didn't bother with any photos, and moved on to site No.42, where an adult was braving the rain - only record shots taken.

I returned to the position from which I can watch Sites Nos.34 and 36, and found an adult still out at No.34, and an adult out at No.36. I sat and waited and the rain stopped, but it still remained cloudy and dull. At 19:31 a juvenile emerged from the nest cavity at No.34 - and just sat beside the cavity entrance for the rest of my stay. A juvenile emerged from No.36 at 19:46, and then a second a minute later - and they didn't do anything before popping back into the nest hole.

By now I was a little disappointed and, with the light levels really low, at about 20:15 I started to retrace my steps homeward.

If you've read this far, you're probably wondering why the heck this post is entitled 'Lucky Sunday'. Well, I'm about to reveal all!

I'd just crossed with another car on a country lane, when a Barn Owl flew across the road in front of me - and the sun had started to come out! I stopped the car immediately, but the hedge was too high to see over, so I drove up the hill to a point where I could park the car and look back down over the hedge. I couldn't see the owl. I then walked over to the other side of the road and scanned the fields on that side too - but still nothing. I was walking back to my car when I spotted it in a roadside tree - about 100 metres away (measured on Google Earth).

Barn Owl (male) - undisclosed location

Not wanting to miss a photo opportunity, I attempted to get a little closer, but the owl flew after I'd only gone about 10 metres - and then settled back into the same tree! It wasn't obscured by leaves any more, but a branch covered part of its head.

Barn Owl (male) - undisclosed location

As soon as I moved again, it was off, and headed down the fields to the left of the road that I'd just come up - and it was then I saw that it was carrying prey.

Barn Owl (male) - undisclosed location

I returned to my car and headed back down the road to see if I could see where it had got to, but didn't manage to locate it again. I'd given up and started to set off homeward again, when I saw the owl - back in the same tree! As I approached in the car it flew out, round in a circle, and back to the tree, where I was able to hang out of my window and take a couple of shots. Fortunately, the sun had gone in by now as these would have been into the sun

Barn Owl (male) - undisclosed location

After the owl had transferred the prey from foot to mouth it again flew - this time to the back of the tree, emerging a few moments later and flying off. It was then that the penny dropped. This probably wasn't a roosting male owl, but an owl feeding its young. By being here I was delaying it in its purpose, and so I departed immediately. Without a special licence, which I don't have, it's illegal to, wittingly, interfere with nesting Barn Owls. 

Having phoned my wife to tell her I'd be late home as I'd been distracted by a Barn Owl, I headed homeward, stopping briefly to record a Little Owl at my Site No.46.

Postscript

The Barn Owl tree had looked far too small to harbour a sufficiently large nest hole. Furthermore, I pass this point at least twice a week on average, and the nearest Barn Owl I'd seen previously was probably around 5 miles (8 km) away. I felt, therefore, that I should carefully check this site out. As I was due to have an evening out with pal Titus the following evening (he knows a bit about Barn Owls - he's not called Titus White for nothing!), towards the end of the next evening we parked beside the road at a point 140 metres from the suspected nest tree, and sat quietly in the car. At 20:50 the Barn Owl flew past on our right, landed in the tree, transferred the prey from foot to mouth, and flew into the back of the tree. A few minutes later it emerged again, started to approach us on our left hand side, but only got about 20 metres before it dropped down into the field. A few moments later it was up again with a small item of prey which it took directly to the back of the tree. It then reappeared almost immediately and flew past us on our left. This confirmed to us that we'd got a nest and this bird was either feeding young or feeding his lady who was sitting on eggs. No photos were taken during that session. Although the road sees a reasonable amount of traffic (cars, farm vehicles, and dog walkers) we shall still be treating the site with a great deal of respect and only observing from a great distance, or as we drive past.

Thank you for dropping by.