When two Ross residents woke up to discover a tawny owl in their house, on Monday, January 30th, they tweeted Chris Packham of SpringWatch for advice. However it was thanks to a suggestion made by the Ross Gazette to contact the Barn Owl Centre at Gloucester which helped return the bird to the wild.

Daniel Thomas told the Gazette that the bird probably came down the chimney, but it was when it knocked over a pot plant in the hall that his wife, Wendy woke up and they went to investigate. By this time the bird had perched on shelves in the study.

The advice from Chris Packham was to keep the doors and windows open and the family did this, but after a while it became obvious that the bird was not going to find its own way out. The Ross Gazette tweeted a suggestion to contact the Barn Owl Centre at Gloucester, and Daniel did. Vincent Jones from the centre drove to Ross and within a few minutes had caught the owl and checked it over before it was released. He showed Daniel and Wendy how to hold the owl correctly in case they ever have another wild visitor in their house.

Daniel told the Gazette that it was a brilliant experience, to see the owl up close. The family moved to Ross 12 years ago because of its lovely natural surroundings, and he said to see the video of the release will always remind them of a gorgeous experience. He added: “We will miss him now he has gone.” He also made a donation to the Centre in appreciation of Vincent’s efforts in catching the bird and his lesson in handling it.

Vincent told the Ross Gazette that he has 20 years experience of dealing with wild and captive birds. He said there are many birds of prey being kept as pets these days, but it is illegal to release them into the wild. However as this tawny owl was a wild bird he was able to help Daniel and Wendy catch it and release it.

After catching the owl Vincent spent a while with Daniel and Wendy giving them some training on how to hold the bird confidently.

See the full story in this week’s edition of the Ross Gazette, or subscribe to our online edition http://www.rossgazette.com/subscribe.cfm"