Worcestershire Record No. 19 November 2005 p. 12

BARN OWLS

Johnny Birks sent the editor this email:

I was out listening for bats on the eastern edge of Spetchley Park last night (13^th July 2005) and had a wonderful barn owl experience! About 22.15hrs on the footpath at SO897529 I heard the familiar sound (but heard too rarely now) of a family of barn owls, and I saw at least three of them flying near me. Two came and hovered over my head, probably attracted by the bat sounds coming from my headphones. I would guess there were 4+ in the area in total. I saw/heard them over a period of about 20 minutes as I was recording bats. Then, about 22.45hrs, at SO897534, I was barked at by a pale phase fallow deer outside the deer park fence!