Tawny Twins
Reliable owl sites round here are hard to find; birds that seem set up for life one year are gone the next. So, when I bumped into another birder who mentioned they'd just seen a fledgling Tawny, I was keen to track it down. Directions were decidedly vague; it was only after a long and fruitless walk and I had begun to walk back to the car that I heard a familiar squeaking emanating from deep inside the woods. I wasn't absolutely sure that this was the species in question and I wondered whether a trek into the dense bracken would be worth it. The clouds were heavy and ready to shed their load, the light was poor. Still, I had nothing much else to do and if this was young Tawny, it might well be gone tomorrow. I bit the bullet and crept through the thick foliage. As I approached, I grew increasingly confident: it was a very familiar sound and I couldn't think what else it would be. It was at this point that the heavens opened and I was torn between getting cracking views of a bird rarely seen (and getting drenched) and leaving it until another day but potentially returning empty-handed. I crept on a little further and there to my delight, in the low branches of an oak (?), were two gorgeous Tawny Owl fledglings huddling next to each other, half asleep. I got some record shots, drove back home, returned - with dry kit and a smaller lens - and snapped away. Another one of those memorable moments.
