I keep hearing an owl in the day

Don’t Redhead, you’ll set me off again ?

We live surrounded by woods an old railway line now a parkland. It’s not unusual to hear an owl in the day time. It’s sad though just to hear one calling out and no response I always think it’s a lonely owl.

I used to be Tassiegran once Fanny but somehow couldn't log in to gransnet and had to register again. At the time I was feeling fat and crabby and in a fit of pique called myself fatgran and now I'm stuck with it Anyway at the moment I have gained several covid pounds so the name fits again.

Yes I seem to recall one of our friends on here was in touch with EV if she is reading perhaps she can give us an update.

Hello fatgran (I don’t like calling you that!)
There was a lady on here who was a neighbour of EV. I wish that I could remember who it was.

Good morning (evening in Tassie) Nothing happening here today, fine day but rain forecast for the next couple of days.

Still no news re Rufus hello to EV if she is reading - we haven't forgotten you, and to Marydoll a hello also.

Lovely owl stories - the one with the owl perching on the back of the sleeping teenager just so funny!

Very best wishes to all.

Laura I can’t make out the creature on Orlin’s mug…
is it a hedgehog; or a type of mustelid?

My mug features a wise owl, Orlin’s mug speaks for itself

Oh Fanny, that's a lovely story your Mum and Dad sound like special people x

I've been out all day so obviously haven't heard it today

That’s a lovely story, Fanny. ❤️ Have you read Corvus by Esther Woolf? It’s not about owls but she got adopted by a baby rook and became ‘the bird woman’.

An acquaintance of mine has a fab owl story. An owl came down their chimney one evening and began flying round their house. They lost sight of it but managed to track it down via the sooty marks on the walls. It had gone upstairs and when they peered into one of the bedrooms the owl was perched on their teenage son’s back, whilst he remained soundly asleep in his bed.

LauraNorder

FannyC you’re a hoot.

Thank you Laura!

Chapter 4:

My mom and dad built the owls, who were called Blodwyn and Dodo, a beautiful landscaped aviary.
And when we moved house about 10 years later, they built another one.
The owls ate frozen rabbit from Sainsbury’s (as in the Chad n Dave classic).
We used to get funny looks in Sainsbury’s due to the copious amounts of rabbit chunks that we bought (‘Making a stew, love?’)
Owls have to make pellets, so we had to save our dogs’ fur to put on the rabbit. (I still remember the willow pattern tin that we saved the fur in!)
Occasionally, the owls would ‘escape’, but they’d just have a little fly around and then come back.
Unfortunately, Dodo died quite young due to a fox.
The owl man gave us another owl called Reg.
They mated, (Blodwyn and Reg, nothing t do with the bloke!) but the eggs never managed to hatch. We took the eggs out and replaced them with fake plastic pigeon eggs, because Blodwyn would squash them.
In fact, Blodwyn was a rather fat owl. Sometimes, she got so fat that she had trouble actually flying (I know!) and she would crawl up the netting of the aviary, like a big moth.
Blodwyn died when she was about 17, and Reg must have lived to about 22, which is a great age for an owl. In fact he may have held a record, but we never looked into anything.

Whenever I hear an owl hoot, it’s the most evocative thing ever. It reminds me of being a little girl, all safe, tucked up in bed. Ohh, I’m welling up ?

It's an owl with insomnia. Lots of owls around here and occasionally heard in the daytime.

Surrounded by owls here in the many trees, usually they start off about twilight time.The males calling and females answering more softly.Barn owls must screech though, so the
Twit.....twoo owls are tawny owls usually.
Autumn is the time they go mad calling out, as they are having territory wars.

FannyC you’re a hoot.

That’s wonderful Fanny. I have a feeling there may be more (she said hopefully)?

It's probably a Little Owl. They often hunt and call during the day.

I had no idea the male owl call was different from the female one, and I thought I was a country girl! So when I’ve heard woo woo it could be the male wooing the female (wonder if that’s where the word comes from?). Hearing it during the day I wondered what he was hunting. NowI know but didn’t hear a female reply back. Poor lonely owl calling all day long. Not heard him lately now mating season is past.

A handy hint (from my gas man) for anyone about to release a bird trapped behind a fireguard or gas fire indoors. Start by closing internal doors and curtains, leaving one window/patio door open. When it's freed the bird will make a beeline for the bright exit route. (Not sure about when it's dark outside. Lights off indoors and stand outside with a torch maybe?)

brilliant

Chapter 3.

So the owlets came to live in a semi detached house in 1970s Dudley (I do realise how Harry Potter this sounds)
I wasn’t born yet, so the owlets temporarily lived in the room that was to become my nursery.
The curtains and carpet were removed, and two large dead branches were installed instead.
The window of their bedroom faced onto the street, so people must have been intrigued to see the owls hopping about.

oh do please tell me more

Germanshepherdsmum

More please Fanny!

Excellent! Thank you

Chapter 2:

So mom and dad returned from Wales, bringing the owlets home.
The plan was for them to go to Dudley Zoo. (They could never be wild, because they’d never been taught to hunt.)
Mom and Dad met with the keeper at Dudley Zoo to discuss provision for the owls.
Sadly, the situation at the zoo was found wanting. Mom and Dad knew that they could give the owls a better life.
So, with permission from the local ‘Birds of Prey Top Banana’ (this chap plays a significant role, but I can’t remember what his role actually was) mom and dad were to keep the owls…

On the Sefton coast we see little owls and the occasional barn owl during the day though I’ve not heard them call. At night we hear lots of tawny owls.

This time of the year. when they have a brood to feed, they will be out hunting in day light.

We have twice had owls trapped in the redundant kitchen flue in our house in France, where we are at present. The first time DH disconnected the cookerhood, it flew out and headed straight for the open back door into the dark. The second time we had to unscrew a ventilator at floor level and the owl did several laps of honour, almost sweeping china off the dresser before exiting. We got our chimney man in and he has now blocked the flue off at the top.

Callistemon

www.british-birdsongs.uk/short-eared-owl/

The short-eared owl may hoot during the day, it sounds a bit like a pigeon

JaneJudge

I know you think I am a bit daft Callistemon but it is not a pigeon they are it all bloody day long in my garden, so much so I've written a pigeon dictionary

Apologies, I don't think you're daft ?
?

Ours may sound different because they coo in Welsh but I think they may fly over the border sometimes- eve when we were supposedly in lockdown