Tawny owl in distress.

One very windy night about two years ago we heard something scrabbling about in the chimney.  I presumed it was one of the jackdaws from next door prospecting for a new nesting site.  If they get in they usually get out the same way, the only trouble is that if they like it they start dropping sticks down the chimney until they wedge into a platform that they can build a nest on.  I usually manage to dissuade them by lighting the fire for a couple of days only the very persistent birds continue after this treatment.  I forgot the bird making the noise and went up to bed.  When my wife came up she said she thought it was an owl, my reply was a little sceptical and I think went something like this "don't be daft, owls are far too sensible to get stuck in a chimney."  Still thinking it was a jackdaw I settled down and had a good nights sleep forgetting the problem.  Next morning I went into the room to collect my glasses before going to work and heard a very pathetic and sorrowful hoot coming from the direction of the stove that is connected to the chimney.  I didn't have time to investigate and asked my son to check when he got up.  He was unable to get into the stove but rang me to say that he was sure it was an owl.  I happened to be back in the yard at lunch time and since I only live about five miles from work I went home.  I had to dismantle the stove but when I finally got into it so that I could see the entrance to the flue I could see a pair of talons hanging down, I managed to get my hands past the talons and around the birds wings and slide it out of the flue.  Sure enough it was a very bedraggled, sad looking tawny owl.  I let it sit on the grate and took a couple of pictures while the poor bird was coming round from its ordeal.

 

I picked the owl up, being careful to avoid the talons and carried it out side.  While I was carrying it the bird did one of those owl tricks and swivelled its head round at a seemingly impossible angle and stared directly at me.  The look it gave me seemed to suggest that it was holding me directly responsible for its predicament and no matter what it would remember me.  I released the bird outside and after a little hesitation it flew away apparently unharmed.  We have a lot of tawny owls living in the immediate area and we hear them almost every night but so far as I know I have never seen that particular owl again.