Barn owl roosting in Dowkabottom Cave

[nobrotson]

Went to Dowkabottom yesterday, on approaching the entrance a barn owl flew out of it. Just inside the entrance were several owl pellets one of which contained a mouse skull.

Has anyone else ever seen a barn owl here?

 

[Pitlamp]

No but there was a (tawny?) owl nesting just inside the cave at Brants Gill Head last year. Scared me daft when I was staggering in there with all the paraphernalia needed for sump flopping. I mean, it's not easy to run away when you're bent double with all that clatch on!

 

[mikem]

Found a tawny roosting in a Mendip cave a few years back

 

[Pony]

Been tawnys in Dowkabottom on and off for the thirty years that I've been going. First I've heard of a barny.

 

[paul]

I was also surprised a few years ago by a tawny owl suddenly taking flight straight towards me as I scrambled down to the first pitch in Marble Steps Pot. We were dropping down via the Gully Route and it had flown out from route opposite leading to Sidewinder.

 

[nobrotson]

A friend of mine was once climbing 'forked lightning crack' at Heptonstall and an owl (unsure of species) flew out of the crack into him when he was on the route, knocking him off.

I now remember that I've also seen a barn owl roosting at Yockenthwaite pot before.

 

[Pitlamp]

A friend of mine was once climbing 'forked lightning crack' at Heptonstall and an owl (unsure of species) flew out of the crack into him when he was on the route, knocking him off.

I now remember that I've also seen a barn owl roosting at Yockenthwaite pot before.

Same thing happened to me once on the start of Cracked Actor at Trowbarrow; I managed to avoid taking to the air (only just!). When I also fell of Forked Lightning Crack at Heptonstall, I had no excuse other than my own incompetence!

Was yours at Dowkabottom definitely a barn owl? (Not a juvenile tawny?)

 

[nobrotson]

I'm certain it was a barn owl, I was only 10 m or so from it and got a very clear view.

 

[underground]

Not Yorkshire, possibly not even Strigiformes, but nevertheless exciting (or alarming for the first man in who got the surprise) we had a big bird of prey fly out of Snelslow t’other week.

 

[mikem]

Kestrel is the other species that happily nests in cracks (or jackdaws)

 

[HardenClimber3]

Quite a few years ago (probably 10+) I came upon what I think was a Barn Owl (white face, pale plumage) a good way into Dowkabottom (beyond the calcite flows).