A Barn Owl Bonanza 17th February 2020

At last a weekend of storms has passed, leaving considerable devastation in parts of the country but thankfully Oxfordshire has been spared the worst. Today there was just a legacy of a strong chilly wind and the occasional sharp shower at Farmoor Reservoir but otherwise sunshine dominated for the most part.

I took myself to Farmoor to meet Peter and conduct a reprise of my Farmoor Barn Owl experience. Our arranged meeting time was 2pm but I decided to get there early, at noon, as sometimes the owls can appear around this time. 

After taking shelter from a heavy shower in Pinkhill Hide I walked back along the Thames Path with Dai towards Pinkhill Lock. It was approaching half past one. I looked at the boundary fence running up to the reservoir and there was a Barn Owl sat on top of one of the metal fence posts! It must have arrived while I was sheltering from the rain in the hide. It remained on the post for a few minutes, looking around and then set about hunting over the waste ground between the reservoir and the lock. 

It hunted for at least thirty minutes with no discernible success in capturing a vole and today, with the strong wind, it flew noticeably higher on occasions, hovering in the wind just as a kestrel would. Eventually it departed westwards along the bank of the reservoir.

I could see Peter approaching just a few minutes later and I was about to greet him with 'you should have been here a few minutes ago' when the owl returned and perched once more on one of the metal fence posts. We both watched it briefly before it flew off westwards again.

I suggested we wait and see if another owl would appear as I know there are at least two that come to hunt here. We stood by the gate and chatted to while away the time and some twenty minutes later another Barn Owl, or was it the same one as before, flew past us and we followed its flight as it hunted over the waste ground. Eventually it flew across the river and was lost to sight but just as it disappeared Peter told me he could see two more Barn Owls hunting over the waste ground to our right. So that made three definite Barn Owls, a really pleasing result for us and confirming my suspicions.

One of these two owls had plumage that was markedly more saturated in colour than its companion and the one that had departed. Whereas they had appeared pale all over, with only sandy buff on the head and wings this stronger marked individual was a noticeably darker orange buff on not only the head but also its breast.The upperparts and wings were also markedly more orange and there were stronger markings around the eyes and bill. In flight it was an attractive combination of deep orange buff and white and very distinctive as it quartered the waste ground. For the next two hours we watched and photographed these two owls, endlessly searching the ground for a vole or mouse.

The more strongly coloured Barn Owl

Despite making a number of stoops to the ground, they were unsucessful in catching a rodent but finally the richer coloured bird dived headlong into the long grass with some purpose and did not re-appear. We could just see its white face in the grass and looking through my bins it was obvious it had caught something and was now eating it on the ground.

We maintained a respectful distance so it could eat its meal in peace but almost inevitably a dog walker came along and passing too close for comfort startled the owl which flew up, thankfully carrying what was left of its prey in its bill. I was glad that it had not been deprived of its hard won meal.

Below are some images I took over the two and half hours we watched the Barn Owls. 

It was quite the best afternoon I have spent with the Barn Owls so far and anyone can and should go and see them as access is unrestricted and the potential for disturbance to the owls is minimal.