In Cornwall, we went to Screech Owl Sanctuary. We got a little lost getting there. You can see it from the main road. Getting to it is another story! But once we found it, it was great.
They have a variety of owls, both rescued and born in captivity. If an owl is born in captivity they can not release it.
Three times a day, there are flying displays. The first owl we saw was huge! His name was Oscar and he was a grumpy old man.
Then the second owl came out, called Kaya. Kaya is a Boobook owl (also called a Morepork owl) and is found in New Zealand. There are different names for this owl, depending on where they live. Kaya is only 2 years old and was very sweet. When the guy flying the owls asked if anyone would like to hold her, I jumped at the chance.
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| Me and Kaya |
After the display, we had a walk around the other animals. They have a small group of meerkats which were so cute. We timed it right and the animals were being feed. They have black skin on their stomachs, so once they have eaten they lie back with their legs in the air and try to get the sun on their stomachs. The black skin helps their digestion. The group had 3 meerkats, two older males and a younger female. Because she was the youngest she had to do the most look-out duty.
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| Lucy, keeping look out |
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| having a snack |
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They also had some pigmy goats, which were cute. (Though there was a young boy who didn't like them so much as the goat thought his fingers were lunch. He was fine, the goats just nimbled.)
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| Hungry? |
There were also 2 emus. The female lays the eggs (obviously) but it's the male who then sits on it. They feed them special emu pellets and asked if anyone wanted to feed them. I was a bit cautious; I have seen emus bite! But they just pecked the pellets off my hand. Fairly gently. But I wouldn't like that beak anywhere near my face!
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| They spotted dinner... |
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| ... but were surprisingly gentle. |
We had a look around the owls. The snowy owls were very noisy. The male was displaying for the female. Male snowy owls hold a chick in their mouths while spreadying their wings and making a noise that sounds a lot like a train. Apparently this is very attractive.
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| Displaying male |
However the female was not looking very impressed!
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| Unimpressed female |
There is a show area where a member of the staff shows off some owls and you can stroke them. It was brilliant! Owls don't have water proof wings like most other birds, which means they can fly silently, but avoid flying in the rain as it then takes them ages to dry off. This is one of the reasons they like barns. When it is raining there are usually mice etc in the barn so they can still eat.
The colours of an owls eyes tell you when it flies. Not all owls fly at night. If an owl has yellow eyes they fly and hunt during the day. Orange eyes means they hunt at dusk and dawn, while black eyed owls are the ones which flight at night.
One of my favourites was Digger, a burrowing owl which are from northern, central and south America. They are the cutest little things. They grow to about 30cm tall and live in little burrows.
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| Digger, the burrowing owl |
My other favourite is Baden-Powell (named by scouts!), a British barn owl. He parents were two rescue owls who got together in rehab. Because he was born in captivity, he couldn't be released into the wild, though he parents went back. He was my favourite because of the way he greeted people. When they said his name, he wiggled! It was so cute. He just gave a little body wiggle. They have no idea why he does it. None of the other owls do. Just him. Very sweet.
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| Baden-Powell, the wiggling barn owl! |
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| Feeding Baden-Powel |
The birds were beautiful and I got to hold Baden-Powell and another bird later. Here are a few photos of some of the others.
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| one of the breeding owls |
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| Digger again |
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| Darling, a Tawny owl |
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| Lazy teen owl. |
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