Recognising Common British Owls by Sight and Sound

There are few better ways to spend a still evening in the British countryside than standing at the edge of a wood and simply listening. Owls are secretive, largely nocturnal and beautifully camouflaged, which is why most of us hear far more owls than we ever see. The good news is that Britain's breeding owls are surprisingly distinctive once you know what to listen for — and a handful of visual clues will help you name the bird behind the sound.

Five species breed regularly here: the tawny owl, barn owl, little owl, long-eared owl and short-eared owl. Each has its own voice, its own preferred habitat and its own way of flying.

Start With the Sound

Voice is the most reliable identification tool, particularly after dark when silhouettes merge into black. On a calm, dry night in late winter and early spring, when territories are being proclaimed, a single walk down a hedged lane can produce three or four species. Listen for rhythm as much as tone: a steady hoot, a quavering tremolo, a sharp yelp or a blood-curdling shriek each point to a different bird.

The Tawny Owl: Britain's Classic Hoot

This is the bird most people picture when they think of an owl, and the one responsible for the familiar "twit-twoo". That famous phrase is actually a duet: the female calls a sharp, wavering ke-wick, and the male answers with a mellow, drawn-out hooo. Because the two calls overlap so neatly, they can sound like a single bird.

Tawnies also give a quavering kew-wick contact call, while youngsters in late summer beg with a persistent, penetrating hiss — the sound that brings garden owners outside convinced something is being strangled in the shrubs. Look for them in broadleaf woodland, parkland, churchyards and mature gardens. At dusk they often call from a favourite branch, and the silhouette is a heavy, round-headed, short-tailed bird with broad, rounded wings.

The Barn Owl: Silent and Pale

Barn owls do not hoot. Their call is a long, rasping shriek — startling, hoarse and often given in flight, which is why generations have mistaken it for something unnatural. Young birds and adults at the nest hiss and snore in a way that sounds oddly reptilian.

Visually, this is the easiest owl to identify at speed. Watch for a pale bird with long, slender wings, quartering low over rough grass and field margins with a slow, buoyant, floppy action. The underparts catch even weak light, and the flight is utterly silent thanks to the fringed edges of the flight feathers. In daylight, look for a heart-shaped white face and small dark eyes. Barn owls favour rough grassland, hay meadows, field edges and marsh, and rely heavily on nest boxes in old barns and trees.

The Little Owl: Small, Squat and Diurnal

Introduced to Britain in the nineteenth century, the little owl is a bird of farmland, hedgerows, orchards and old stone walls. It is the only British owl likely to be seen hunting by day — a squat, short-tailed, round-headed little bird, often perched on a fence post or lichen-covered branch, bobbing its head as it watches the ground.

Its call is a sharp, querulous kiew, kiew, at times like a small dog yelping in the distance. In flight it looks almost batlike, with fast, whirring wingbeats and an undulating trajectory.

The Long-Eared and Short-Eared Owls

These two are the trickiest to separate, but habitat and behaviour usually settle it.

• Long-eared owl — a slim woodland bird that roosts by day close to trunks in conifer belts or dense scrub, often in loose groups in winter. Its ear tufts are only feathers. The call is a low, soft hoo repeated every two or three seconds, plus thin squeaks from begging young. In flight it shows long wings, a long tail and a direct, almost falcon-like action.
• Short-eared owl — a bird of open moorland, rough grazing and coastal marsh, frequently hunting in broad daylight. It is pale and streaky with dark patches near the wingtips, and its buoyant, flappy flight looks far less controlled than a barn owl's. The song is a deep, rhythmic boo-boo-boo, and the display includes barking notes and a remarkable wing-clap.

Practising Your Fieldcraft

Identification improves enormously with a little patience and preparation.

• Choose a still, dry night with little wind — sound carries far better in calm air.
• Learn two or three calls per species beforehand, then let your ears do most of the work.
• If you must look, use a torch with a red filter and keep the beam low and brief.
• Avoid playing recordings during the nesting season; it disturbs birds that are already working hard.
• Note habitat and season. A pale owl quartering a marsh in July is likely a barn owl; the same bird over upland heather in December may well be a short-eared.

Put the hours in and the rewards come. Once you can separate a tawny's quavering contact call from a little owl's yelp, or tell a barn owl's floating glide from a short-eared owl's flappy bound, the darkened countryside becomes a much richer and more legible place.