I saw my first Barn Owl about three in the morning while walking home from a nightclub pissed in 1972. I had missed the last bus, taxis had all gone home and I was at mile 6 of 8 in a pair of platform soles ... my feet were singing Annie Laurie. But I would not have missed it for the world. Its silent drift across the road in front of me was etherial.

Did you know that the classic owl sound is actually a duet? One owls says 'too-whit' and its the other that answers 'too-whoo.'