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Owls

©Sean Hunter/FLPA

©Ramon Navarro/Minden Pictures/FLPA

Tawny and little owls are common across much of Britain, though their habits mean they may be hard to see.

No other group of birds has quite such an air of mystery surrounding it as the owl. They are both everywhere and nowhere: several species are common and widespread throughout most of lowland Britain, yet they are hardly ever seen, and even less well known. As a result, they have given rise to a large body of folklore, sayings and old wives’ tales, most of which are utter nonsense, but a few do have a ring of truth about them.

Five species of owl breed in Britain: tawny, little, short-eared, long-eared and barn owls, although the barn owl is from a different family and is discussed separately. A sixth species, the snowy owl, did briefly gain a toehold as a British breeding bird during the late 1960s and 1970s, when a few birds travelled south from Scandinavia to take up residence on the Shetland island of Fetlar. A warming climate has since seen snowy owls retreat back northwards to their Arctic home, and the species is now only a very rare visitor to our shores.

Of all our owls, the tawny owl is both the commonest and most widespread in Britain, found in England and Wales and much of lowland Scotland. But even though there are around 20,000 breeding pairs (about twice as many as its nearest rival, the little owl), this species is hardly ever seen, due to its nocturnal habits.

Your best chance of catching up with a tawny owl is if you come across one at its daytime roost – you may be alerted to its presence by the noise made by small birds mobbing this predator in their midst. If you do see one, you may be surprised at how large they are, especially on the rare occasions when they take to the wing.

If tawny owls are hard to see, they are a lot easier to hear, though the famous ‘to-whit, to-whooo’ call is a myth, being a combination of sounds made by the male (hooting) and the female (the shrill ‘kee-wick’). Tawny owls are our most sedentary species, with a tiny territory, so they often hoot during the autumn months – this is the male fending off any of his offspring that might otherwise take over his precious territory. They hunt by night, floating through their woodland habitat and catching voles and other small rodents.

The little owl is very different in both appearance and habits from its larger cousin. Only about the size of a starling, our smallest owl is also far more active during the day than either tawny or barn owls. You are most likely to come across one in lowland farmland in southern Britain, either perched on a barn roof or, most likely, in the branches of an oak tree. They hunt a wide range of prey, including worms, beetles and small birds and mammals.

Unlike our other four owl species, the little owl is not strictly native to Britain, having been brought here in the late nineteenth century from continental Europe, to adorn the parkland estates of stately homes. But whereas other introduced species such as the grey squirrel and ruddy duck have wrought havoc with our native wildlife, the little owl’s presence here doesn’t appear to cause much harm, and it is now generally regarded as a true Brit.

Two other species of owl, short-eared and long-eared, are seen much less often. Of the two, the short-eared, which often flies and hunts by day across large areas of heather moorland, is certainly the more commonly encountered. However, the male’s incredible display flight, in which he rises up into the sky and then falls towards earth clapping his wings together beneath him, is a rare sight. In winter, birds from Scandinavia join our native population of short-eared owls, but, in recent years, these have become less frequent visitors.

The long-eared owl must surely take the prize for the least-known and least-sighted regular British breeding bird. It is strictly nocturnal, and frequently nests in dense coniferous forests, where birders rarely visit. Often the only clue to its presence is the strange sound made by the young birds, which sounds like a creaking hinge on a gate. In recent years, the already small population of long-eared owls has declined still further, and there must now be fears for the future survival of this mysterious and beautiful bird.

©Jules Cox/FLPA

©Sean Hunter/FLPA

Short-eared and long-eared owls have very different lifestyles: short-eared hunts by day over moors; long-eared hunts by night in dense woods.