Each night a pair of tawny owls fly in to my garden to feed on a branch where I put out food for them. When their chicks are old enough, they bring them along to the branch and it's great fun watching the youngsters balance along it, bobbing up and down as they take in the world around them.
Over the years a number of these owls have become models for my paintings. I also make films about their daily lives using cameras hidden in their nest and share live footage from their nest cam online. The owls have become hugely popular and a film I made about Luna, the adult female, has been viewed more than 10 million times.
Bespoke tawny owl nest
I made their nest myself from a hollowed-out beech stump, hoisting it into a sycamore tree situated a short flight from the bird table.
Tawny owl chick, painting
Monitoring the owls
The nest box makes an attractive prop for my paintings and the films are also fun to watch, but the cameras play a far more important role in the lives of these owls since they allow me to monitor their progress. This is especially important because for years this adult pair acted as foster parents, each year taking in rescued owlets from a nearby rehabilitation centre to raise as their own. I use the past tense 'acted' because sadly the male,
nicknamed Bomber, has passed away and Luna's new partner, named Shadow, is yet to be offered the role of foster parent - so I'm unsure if he will take to it. The pair are, however, nesting in the same nest that Luna used with Bomber and I'm hoping the tradition will continue should any new rescues get handed in.
The cameras mean I am able to watch from afar when new chicks are placed with the wild owl family and can intervene if necessary. They also help during occasional fledging mishaps, like the time when the owlets got soaked in a spring rainstorm, their feathers stuck fast to their bodies making it impossible to fly. I scooped them up and brought them inside to dry them off before popping them carefully back into nest.
Owl adventures
But tawny owls are adventurous birds and once the chicks have decided to explore the world outside the nest there’s no stopping them. Sometimes they will venture out before they have learned to fly. I had to rescue the very same fledglings I'd saved from a rain soaking two more times in the same week!
Devoted parents
Tawny owls are devoted parents and unlike most birds continue to look after their chicks until they are almost grown. This pair look after their chicks with utter dedication all summer long, but in autumn things take a sudden turn. Now the parents shoo their offspring out of their territory and it can be a noisy time. Although it seems cruel, it’s all part of growing up and perfectly natural. These chicks will need to find their own territory with enough food to sustain them if they are to survive, and the parents know that.
I always miss them when they go though and can't wait to for the next set of owlets to follow their parents to feed on the 'bird branch' outside my living room window.
