Why Dusk, and How to Arrive

Dusk is when the wood changes shift. The blackbird and song thrush fall quiet, the robin gives one last thin phrase, and the birds that own the night start speaking. Owls call most in the half-hour either side of sunset and again before sunrise, so aim to be in position while there is still twenty minutes of usable daylight. That way you can find a spot, let your eyes adjust and settle without torchlight and trampling.

Pick a wide ride, a gate, a field edge or a clearing rather than pushing into dense plantation. Sound travels along open corridors and dies in thick young conifer. Weather matters more than most people realise: a still, damp evening after rain carries a tawny owl a good half-mile, while wind and heavy rain flatten everything to nothing. A cold, clear, frosty night is often excellent.

The Tawny Owl: Britain's Two-Note Duet

This is the owl most people hear and almost everyone misidentifies. The famous "twit-twoo" is not one bird. The ke-wick — the "twit" — is the female, and the hoo-hoo-hooo — the "twoo" — is the male. They are answering each other, often across a hundred metres or more.

• Male: a soft, rounded, slightly muffled hoo, then a pause, then two or three more in a wavering phrase. It has a hollow, breathy quality, a little like a wood pigeon heard through a pillow.
• Female: a sharp, slightly wavering ke-wick, often landing right on the end of the male's phrase. That overlap is the whole trick of the rhyme.
• Both: a drawn-out kew-wick contact call, and a yapping alarm that sounds like a small, furious dog when a cat or a walker passes beneath a nest tree.

Calling peaks from September to November, then again from January to March as territories are argued over. Listen for the reply rather than the first call — the second bird is usually further off and easier to locate once you know what you are following.

The Barn Owl: Not a Hoot at All

Barn owls do not hoot. They screech, hiss, snore and snap, and a first hearing can be genuinely unsettling.

• A long, harsh, drawn-out screech, often given in flight — a rasping shriek that seems too big for the bird.
• A wheezy, snoring hiss from a roost hole or old building. It sounds like a draught under a door and is very easily dismissed.
• Sharp beak-snapping when alarmed, a rapid ticking like a fingernail on a comb.

Look for rough grass, field margins, old barns, church towers and quiet lanes rather than deep woodland. The bird quarters low and silently, so you will usually hear the screech first and only then pick up the pale shape drifting along the hedge.

The Little Owl: Yelps, Mews and Daylight Habits

Our smallest owl is the least nocturnal, and often calls in broad afternoon. It was introduced in the nineteenth century and favours old orchards, hedgerow oaks, stone walls, ruins and quarries.

• A rising, querulous kiew kiew, repeated steadily — like a small dog that has forgotten how to bark properly.
• A softer, drawn-out mee-oo, usually a pair keeping in touch.
• A short, sharp chatter when something irritates it.

If it is still light, the call yelps and the bird is perched on a post or a dead limb, you have almost certainly got a little owl.

Fieldcraft: Listening Without Disturbing

All British owls are protected, and the barn owl sits on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which makes disturbing it at a nest a criminal offence. Keep well back from holes and hollows, never shine a white light at a bird, and treat any nest area as out of bounds.

• Stand still for at least two minutes after arriving. Owls routinely resume calling once the wood has settled.
• Cup your hands behind your ears and turn slowly — hearing is surprisingly directional, and this trick can double your range.
• Wear quiet, soft layers. Rustling waterproofs will mask a tawny's hoo at thirty paces.
• Use a red filter on a torch, keep it low, and keep it brief.
• Do not use recordings to pull birds in, particularly in spring. It drags them off feeding and can disrupt pairs.
• Tell someone your route and your return time, carry a charged phone and stick to the path — tree roots and badger digs are the real hazards after dark.

Other Woodland Night Sounds You Might Confuse

A few regulars to rule out before you commit to an identification.

• Woodcock: spring roding over open rides just after sunset — low grunts followed by thin, high squeaks.
• Nightjar: a continuous mechanical churring, more heathland and young plantation than mature wood.
• Muntjac: a single barking yap, repeated and hollow, oddly like a small dog.
• Fox: a blood-curdling scream that has nothing to do with owls.
• Wood pigeon: a soft five-note coo from a roost, easily mistaken for a distant tawny if you only half-hear it.

Identify by the shape of the sound rather than your first impression: a phrase, a pause, a reply. Take a notebook, jot the time, the weather and the direction, and return to the same spot through the seasons. Within a few evenings you will start to hear the wood as three or four distinct voices rather than one general darkness — and you will know which owl said what.