Tawny Owl

Tawny Owl Strix aluco

A pigeon sized owl with a round body and head, the tawny owl is a reddish brown with paler underparts, with a ring of dark feathers around the face and eyes. The tawny owl is a woodland species which lives throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

This nocturnal owl is seldom seen, but often heard with it’s distinctive ‘too-wit too-woo’ call at night. This call is in fact a male and female calling to each other, the female makes the ‘too-wit’ call whilst the males hooting response is the ‘too-woo’. The tawny owl feeds on rodents, small birds, fish, frogs worms and insects. Once established a pair will remain in their territory for life, nesting in an old crows nest or tree hollow, the young birds disperse from the breeding grounds in Autumn.