Barn Owl Hunting

The Barn Owl is one of the UK’s most iconic birds. It is a species of open country and favours lowland habitats. As its name suggests it often favours nesting on farmland, where it can often be seen hunting during the day, particularly during winter.

It is a distinctive bird. Famously hunting on silent wings, they swoop down on their prey unannounced. Undisturbed by the sound of their wings flapping, they listen out for the rustling of small mammals in the grass. With heart-shaped face, buff back and wings and pure white underparts, the barn owl is a distinctive sight and once seen, never forgotten.

Barn Owls mate for life unless one of the pair is killed, and breeding takes place at varying times of year according to locality, with a clutch, averaging about four eggs, being laid in a nest in a hollow tree, old building or manmade nest box. The female does all the incubation, and she and the young chicks are reliant on the male for food. When large numbers of small prey are readily available, barn owl populations can expand rapidly.

This bird was photographed out on an early morning-hunt deep in the Essex-countryside. It is a wild bird but did not seem phased by the presence of a photographer. The early morning light was perfect to capture the bird in action.