Barn Owl In The Spotlight....Again.

Out of view to the right in the video is Bank House, and what followed was interesting, whilst also very worrying. 

I made this short video footage at 1.12pm yesterday, the Barn Owl took off 30 seconds after I set the camera to record, at the same time I also took off on my circuit of Cockersand. The Barn Owl was in view for up to an hour as I walked along Moss Lane until I reached the Lighthouse Cottage at 2.25pm. In the hour, the owl crisscrossed every field in the area, and hunted along every ditch and hedgerow, diving to the ground at least six times, and perched on fence posts about the same number of times.

There are things to take into account here, a) the distance the bird flew over the hour must have been up to 3 miles, it had no success in taking prey during this time and distance, b) how long ago was it that the bird had last fed, c) the Barn Owl normally doesn't hunt in daylight or in rain, whilst these birds are seen daily, in itself a concern, d) the recent weather conditions mean this/these birds are suffering, and as things stand with the weather wet, windy, and possibly snow, the Barn Owl looks set to continue to go hungry.

At best, I felt uncomfortable about this sighting yesterday at Cockersand.