The Owls are Back

There are predators in the garden!  Blackbirds sounding their incessant alarm call alerted me to intruders. I’ve heard owls hooting day and night recently so I guessed that they were nearby. I went to investigate with my camera.

The blackbirds were making a song and dance around the Beech tree. High up in the branches there were two owls. You can just see them  top right in the tall tree. They saw me taking photos but remained relaxed throughout. It amazes me that all the creatures in this garden seem to know we won’t harm them.

These are Tawny Owls and it’s quite likely that these are young birds. They probably hatched in April and it’s likely that they’ve been sitting in trees around this garden since they fledged.
The same thing happened last year. It seems we have a mature pair of owls nearby who produce two healthy chicks each year. Lovely!

Last years owl chicks perched much lower down in the Horse Chestnut tree close to my garden studio. There are wood pigeons nesting there now so perhaps they claimed that tree first this year.
If you’d like to see more owls just click the image links below.