One of the most special wildlife encounters 🦉✨ Spending time with this family of tawny owls last year was a wildlife highlight for me. For weeks I would head to the woods near my house early hours of the morning and film the owlets as they fell asleep in the trees. But sadly, there are no owlets this year 😔 If you’ve been here for a while you may remember a few months ago around jan/feb time I posted a story as I could hear the male and female calling from my window at night. I was very hopeful that the pair would breed again, and I even saw one of the adults in the woods around February time, but then…everything went quiet. Tawny owl pairs are monogamous (meaning they pair for life ❤️) & a pair will fiercely defend their patch right the way through the year. But, IF one of the pair dies the other will move on & try to find another mate, so sadly I think that might have been what’s happened here. Tawny owls only live until they are around 4 years old & I’d heard this pair the last 2 years, so have no idea how old the adults were or how long they’d been there for. But sadly I think this might be what’s happened. But, last year they did raise 3 healthy tawny owlets that had all dispersed by autumn to set up their own territories elsewhere. Tawny owls can start to breed when they are a year old, so I really hope that they have all gone onto raise their very owlets 🦉🦉🦉 Filming wildlife can be difficult at times, as of course, we aren’t supposed to become attached to wild animals, but when you spend so much time with them you can’t help it. You watch them grow, learn how to fly, catch their first prey, and they give you memories you’ll have for the rest of your life – so when something happens to them, it can be pretty devastating, but I hope the owlets I met have gone on to lead happy & healthy lives ❤️ This is why every encounter with wildlife is so special, as you never know if you will see them again ❤️ @hannahstitfall on Instagram 🙏🏼 #wildlife #wildlifephotography #fypシ #fypシ゚viral #owls #hannahstitfall - @hannahstitfall