Dinner for Three
After years photographing the same family of Tawny Owls and on a wet morning I almost decided to miss; produced one of my most memorable encounters with them - a breakfast delivery to three waiting chicks.!
For several years I returned each spring to photograph a pair of Tawny Owls nesting alongside a surprisingly busy country road beside an old farm.
It wasn’t the sort of location you might immediately associate with such a secretive woodland bird. Cars regularly passed beneath the trees, while dog walkers and other people used the road throughout the day. Yet the male Tawny Owl seemed completely unphased by everything going on around him and could often be found roosting close to the road.
He became so familiar to people locally that they had even given him a name — Brian.
The female was generally much more difficult to find, but once their chicks had left the nest and begun branching, I could often locate her too. Neither adult would ever be very far from the youngsters.
A familiar family
Each year the pair would generally raise two or three chicks, giving me several weeks in which I could photograph the family as the youngsters emerged from the nest and began exploring the surrounding trees.
Eventually the leaves would become too dense and the family would disappear into the canopy of the adjacent woodland, bringing another season of photography to an end.
On this particular early morning, I very nearly didn’t go.
It had been extremely wet and wasn’t looking especially promising, but shortly after the rain stopped I decided to head out and see if I could find the owls.
I’m very glad I did.
Breakfast
I managed to locate Brian and found him sitting amongst the wet leaves with a Blackbird he had caught.
The rain had left his plumage soaked, but a small shaft of sunlight had started to break through the canopy, illuminating him amongst the surrounding green leaves.
For a while he remained on the branch, plucking feathers from the Blackbird and eating parts of it.
From the top of a nearby tree I could hear his three chicks calling.
Then, without warning, everything changed.
Brian picked up what remained of the Blackbird and suddenly launched from the branch — flying straight towards me.
It happened incredibly quickly. One moment I was photographing him feeding quietly amongst the branches; the next he was coming directly towards me with the Blackbird in his bill.
He flew past and disappeared up into the canopy towards the sound of the three waiting youngsters.
Breakfast had been delivered.
Having spent several years photographing this family, I’d seen and photographed plenty of memorable moments with them. But this encounter has always stood out — not least because I’d almost decided to stay at home that morning.
A wet Tawny Owl, a brief shaft of sunlight and three hungry chicks waiting somewhere amongst the leaves came together to produce one of my favourite sequences from all the years I spent photographing this family.
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See more of my photographs of Tawny Owls and other owl species.