Over the last months I have been watching, from a distance, a pair of Barn Owls nesting in a nearby small barn. They were late to get going and the youngsters are only just fledging - we saw 3 birds in the air last week so at least one is out of the nest, but this evening there is still one young bird begging for food from inside the barn. Whilst watching from a few feet behind a gate I suddenly realised that a Barn Owl was heading straight for me. It inexpertly tried to land on the top rung of the gate and failed - it finished up on the ground about 8 feet away on the other side of the gate. It looked around a bit, then straight at me for a while, then as it looked away I slowly lifted the binoculars and had a good look at its plumage - it was getting dark but I could clearly see a very short tail. After a while it flew off. A wonderful moment - I have never been so close to a wild Barn Owl before. And I think that can go down as FL on the Bird Atlas!
Rosemary
