Attracting Barn Owls

[vinnychameleon]

hi all
Im sure many of you watched the springwatch specials that were on and in Simons you may remember him encouraging a barn owl to fly above his head by imitating a vole noise. He later made the noise of a barn owl sayin that they might come and check you out. Now i have been seeing my local barn owl regularly ( the last 5 nights in a row and i know where he likes to hunt so i went down and sat under the trees and inevitably he turned up within 20 minutes. I decided to try the owl call as i couldnt manage the vole one so started to call. The owl was about 100 yards away but after i had called 6 times he turned and flew directly towards me over the fields he came closer and closer till he was no more then ten yards away n he was staring straight at me then he flew off and i proceeded to watch him fly off with a vole. It was truly magical and that moment looking into eachothers eyes made me feel a real connection with my local barn owl and i will never forget that moment I owe alot of that to simon King and shows what u can learn from these programmes! Sorry iv rattled on a bit but it was amazing

[sleipnerofasgard]

Well done ,maybe you could try it again with a camera or camcorder ,it would make a fantastic wildlife spectacle

[ron1863]

Is there a sound to make them go away. We have Barn Owls and Tawny Owls in the wood at the back of the house and their calls, which we hear every night, though nice can get to you after a few hours especially when you are trying to sleep.

[deer boy]

Well done vinnychameleon as sleipnerofasgard said try it again but this time take a camera or camcorder,would be great to see

[djackso]

Fantastic!
It reminds me of when I used to call to the tawny owls by cupping both hands together and blowing between the sides of my thumbs. They did respond (but alas they never approached me).