In June we parked our campervan next to the barn where we’d put up the barn owl box in January and I watched for an hour at dusk, hoping to glimpse a barn owl. Alas not a thing to be seen so we went a lovely sunset walk. We were lured to some hedges where we heard high pitched plaintive calls. We came very close to one of the creatures making the calls but could not see what it was as the light was so poor. I wondered in my ignorance if it could be hedgehogs in the thick undergrowth, or some sort of ground nesting bird.
I made a recording of the calls and it was a week or so later that the recording was sent to a friend’s birdwatcher brother and the mystery was solved. It was young long eared owls calling out at dusk to be fed! So I went back for a look and saw two fledgling long eared owls well camouflaged in the hedge. Can you see them?
The photo was taken on my phone as I mistakenly thought it would be too difficult to use my big lens. I was fortunate enough to see parent hunting in the long grass for their supper. It swooped low over a field and then down into the grass to capture a vole.
The following evening I went back again and took the photo of the staring orange and black eyes of the long eared owl looking out at me from the branches of a tree. What a thrill to discover this owl in the same area as the barn owls.
Sarah's Wildlife Watch 