Calling all female tawny owls ...

I've had a few poor night's sleeping since the new year and it's all down to our noisy neighbours: owls.

It's not actually that they make that much noise but I can't help but listening to them calling, once I've heard one. And they go on all night.

We've mainly got tawny owls around us at Stonecroft - the ones that go "twit-twoo". It's the females that say "twit" and the males that say "twoo". As a result, I lie there in bed, listening to lonely males seeking a mate with "twoo" after "twoo".  And so far this winter, I've not heard one "twit" of a reply. No wonder they're calling so much.

The other thing I try and do when listening to them is work out where they are in the garden. There's 40ft oak tree overhanging our bedroom and they sometimes sit in that - just to make sure I can hear them, obviously. More often, though they're in another oak, 40ft away on the edge of the wood.

The other owls we get are little owls. We see them regularly too while we rarely see the tawny owls. Little owls sit on top of telegraph poles on the lane at dusk and dawn but don't call so much.

There's a good site here helps identify British owl calls.