The owl saga started one evening when Hilary noticed a bird stuck in the wire fence around our paddock. I went to investigate and quickly realised that it was a Tawny owl.

At first, I thought it was already dead but when I started to release it, I received a claw in my finger – welcome evidence that it still had some life in it. I carefully put it into an old rabbit cage and looked on the internet to see if I could find someone locally who might be able to nurse it back to health.

I must admit that I didn’t really think it had a hope.  It was so weak and although there wasn’t much damage evident externally, I felt sure there must be considerable damage that we couldn’t see.  Amazingly, there were some signs of life: at one point, when I opened the cage, it escaped and tried to fly away but just crash-landed after a small distance.  It has also managed to eat a small bit of steak despite the fact that it looked so poorly.

I then found out about the Ryedale Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in nearby Malton, so I rang and spoke to Jean Thorpe, who runs the Centre. It was most encouraging that when I took it through to Malton, and Jean had done a quick check of the owl, she felt sure that she would be able to nurse it back to health.  It was difficult to believe to be honest and I still pretty sure that there was not much chance.  Jean wanted it to be released back where it had been found if she was successful, so we made arrangements to speak within a few days to find out whether she’d made any progress.

The grandchildren kept asking when the owl was coming back to the farm and I have to admit that I was dreading having to tell them it had died.  I’m pleased to say that, much to my amazement, Jean managed to work her magic, and within a week, we were able to release the Tawny Owl back into its own patch.

You can see the video here. It really was lovely to see it fly off into the woods, full of life.

I expect we’ll be hearing the usual “twit twoo” again soon!

 Rob