• Colour of Owls

    Barn Owls vary in size between males and females. They also show great variation in colouration.

    The most common sighting on the meadows is a large white Barn Owl. I have mentioned this on a number of times over the past two years. Before this one appeared, the residents appeared to me to have been a smaller type, often with a contrasting caramel coloured wing and a creamy or duskier breast. These were not just a smaller single male – there were often a pair about at the same time. It makes me wonder whether the larger white bird comes from a different population, or perhaps was released in the area.

  • late-night Owls

    Roz and Alex have jollied off to Norway for a Cathedral Choir tour. However, the fact that the coach was leaving Tombland at 3.00 in the morning was a bit daunting. All that struck me was that Brampton retains a far more pleasant atmosphere than the City centre has on a Friday night / Saturday morning. The wildlife in Brampton is a bit less wild as well.

    Numbers of Barn Owls are hunting within the parish. Their very presence is often more effective that a village sign in demonstrating that you are nearing home. Mr Crane’s new post and tape fencing has provided useful perches and on my way back from the city; at least two were adorned with owls as I drove home after the coach left. The Barn owls hissing screech is a regular night time sound. It seems to me that territories are being re-established. The Barn Owl population is certainly increasing and they seem so common now, a real contrast with the position ten years ago.

  • Owls

    As the nights draw in, the owls are in the ascendant. Throughout the summer, the Barns Owls have been the most regularly seen – their buoyant, effortless hunting flight and creamy colour marking them out. A number of pairs hunt over the river meadows. Their territories are large and often seem to overlap one another.  Individuals become recognisable – there is a large mostly white (presumably) female which seems to have been about for several seasons and she contrasts with the male which is both smaller and boats a richer caramel and cream combination. Last night in the car, we approached a Barn Owl drinking from a puddle in the road – obviously unaware of our presence, it lifted off effortlessly and into the darkness over Mr Crane’s meadows.

    In the late September evenings the Tawny Owls start to call more to define their home territory. The separate calls of “kew-ick “ from the female in the dead Elm at the top of the hill being answered by the “hu..oooo” of the male. They rarely appear during the daylight hours – I only usually find them when I follow the occasional cacophony of Jays and Blackbirds when they ‘mob’ the sleeping owl into evasive action (and in many cases they are mobbing a cat not an owl).

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