What a Hoot!

If your lucky enough you may just hear the sound of Tawny owls (Strix aluco) calling to one another this time of year. Tawny owls can be found in woodland habitats where their stocky build and brown plumage help to blend in with its environment. During the day tawny owls tend to remain inactive, they will often sleep in hollow tree cavity's or perched close against the trunk of the tree. Being nocturnal they become active at night normally two hours after dusk they will begin hunting.

Tawny owls can be heard calling around the autumn months making a charismatic (keewik) call. They nest from November onwards and the vocalisations heard in autumn are the juvenile owls from the previous years nests. They call to one another in an effort to find mates, pair up and establish new territory's. This is very important for young owls as mum and dad will viciously chase their grown up owlets from their territory to make room for the new brood.

If you are lucky however you may here the male and female calling during the summer months of March to June. The call you may here is the parents calling to their fledgling owlets still reliant on them for food. They call to locate their chicks which by this point are spread out within the parents territory. Tawny owls feed on a variety of prey which includes earth worms (Lumbricina), grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), mice (Mus) , rats (Rattus) and small birds such as starlings (Sturnus vulgaris).

There are around 50,000 breeding pairs of tawny owls in the UK giving them a ICUN red list status of least concern. They are however at risk from loss of habitat, and poisoning from game keepers or land owners who see them as pests. Egg collectors will also raid tawny owl nests to get hold of the eggs which they can then sell for thousands on the black market. However for now at least they are a protected species and are thriving. So if you want to hear a tawny owl call this summer, take a night walk in your local woodland and simply listen.

Helpful tip

Tawny owls have a favourite perch from which they hunt from. Look for owl pellets on the ground below a well concealed branch, this is a strong indicator that this is the perch used for hunting.