Wise Owls Of The Big Trees

For a lot of us that live out in the countryside, one of the greatest pleasures are the sounds of nature. One of the most well known and commonly heard has to be the night calls of owls- talking to one another as they glide majestically through the big tree’s of

our community, under the cover of darkness. Owls like most animals in our British wildlife, are made up of different species- some are more endangered then others such as the barn owl, who’s numbers have sadly been decreasing rapidly over the last

decade. Whilst the more commonly seen Tawny owl, also known as the brown owl has managed to keep their population from reaching the endangered birds of prey list.

In Swaffham prior we are blessed with a very healthy community of Tawny owls that live among the branches of the large sycamore trees at the back of coopers green and in and around the old church grave yard. There often viewed as less beautiful or not as interesting as there rarer white barn owl cousins but I couldn’t disagree with this more- there’s so much to love about them.

They have a coat of thick feathers, speckled brown and white to camouflage themselves in with the bark of the trees. Why you may not see them, a tawny owls ears are positioned asymmetrically, with the growth of their facial feathers formed in a satellite dish shape. This means that the tiniest sound is funnelled straight to their ears, making them some of the finest night time predators known to man despite there relatively average eye sight. Their diet consists mostly of small rodents and large flying insects, they live in the hollows of big trees, protected by large branches and hidden from view during the day so that they themselves don’t fall prey to eagles.

And of course let’s not forget that they (like all owls) can rotate their heads 270 degrees, which let’s face it, is just pretty awesome! They can do this because unlike us with one main stiff spinal cord, in their neck area, they have lots of little vertebrae surrounded by thick soft flexible muscles which means they can turn their heads further without cutting off the blood supply to their brains- making it easier to spy prey on the ground and for their own protection from bigger birds of prey.

It is a myth that all owl calls go twit twoo... tawny owls very rarely use this call and instead have a shriller, piercing squawk that is very distinct. It is believed that it is because of their eerie calls, that in the past, village folk associated them with bad luck and death. William Shakespeare didn’t help their cause by describing them as the omen of death in his play, Julius Caesar but they soon regained favour, especially with films such as harry potter arriving on our screens where tawny owls were regularly used as the post owls for Hogwarts. They are in fact believed to be extremely sensitive, romantic birds that are very curious and outgoing. They stay together with their partner for life, only breeding with them! And have been seen to pine and starve myself when there partner dies.

Recently a study carried out on owl species into their emotional state found that some birds even suffer with depression after partners die.

Tawny owls are highly territorial of their tree’s, so other than their long term owly wife or

husband, they will not allow any adult birds near there patch- the only time there will be more in the same tree is when they have babies to feed. A tawny owl will breed between March to early summer and there clutch is typically three eggs. However it is rare that all three will survive to adulthood, with normally only one or two owls fledgling their parent’s tree.

But despite not being on the endangered list currently, they still face difficulties like most animals- from lose of habit (big tree’s being cut down) countryside being lost to make way for more houses and roads. To the confusing night time city lights and car head lights which cause a surprising amount of tawny owls to become confused and disoriented, sometimes flying into oncoming cars and ending up concussed and injured on the side of the roads.

If you ever see an injured owl, please don’t leave it, by itself it will die! You need to put on some thick gardening gloves to prevent being cut by their sharp feet and using a towel, catch it, being careful with its wings- cover the towel over its eyes and ears so that it doesn’t struggle and calms down. Place in a dark protected box and take as soon as possible to a wildlife rescue where they will be able to rehabilitate the owl and get it flying again so it can get back to the wild. Tawny owls are the wise birds in our big trees that are always watching and without them, our countryside just wouldn’t be the same- Vive la Tawny Owl!