July Barn Owl Sighting

I was standing out in my one of the fields at my farm the other day, with two miniature Shetland ponies grazing at my feet, when a common barn owl started circling us about 20 feet up. It wasn’t yet dusk and was quite early for a barn owl to be out as they are nocturnal.

Quickly I took a picture on my mobile as it flew past; I could see all the detail: the speckled marks above its eyes on its luminous heart-shaped face; the pure white fringe feathers on its wings which help the owl to conceal any sound of it flying and its long, strong tail shafts. The mobile phone picture unfortunately didn’t show all this detail, but it caught the atmosphere of the moment.

Amazingly I suddenly saw this beautiful owl dive down, plummeting to the ground, and come up seconds later with a squirming vole in his beak. What a rare sighting! I feel privileged to have witnessed it.

This owl is a regular at our farm and con often be seen flying around. We’ve names him ‘Barney’. A couple of weeks ago I saw him with his mate, who is more wary. We believe their nest to be in the forest which surrounds part of our farm.