Blog post celebrating publication of A New Dawn at Owl’s Lodge 🦉
The seaside resort of Bridlington in East Yorkshire is down the coast from where I live in Scarborough and, several years ago, when our daughter was young, we stumbled upon a place called Bridlington Animal Park. It was a lovely place to explore – especially when we hadn’t been expecting to visit – with an eclectic mix of animals. Over the years they park has expanded and brought in more animals and, when I spotted they were offering owl experiences, I immediately booked myself and my daughter onto one.
https://bridlingtonanimalpark.co.uk
We turned up before the park opened to the public and joined the owner and a handler as they talked to us about the various owls and birds of prey they had at the park. We both held a common barn owl, Australian boobook owl and European eagle owl.
The common barn owl is the only one native to this country so it features heavily in my new book, A New Dawn at Owl’s Lodge in which the owner of Owl’s Lodge, Snowy, rescues sick and injured owls. I already had some knowledge about barn owls but loved delving deeper as well as researching the other four owls native to the UK – tawny owl, little owl, short-eared owl and long-eared owl. The European eagle owl does bear a strong resemblance to the long-eared owl with those gorgeous ear tufts and I also think the boobook owl looks a bit like the little owl.
I wish I could tell you exactly how it felt to stroke the feathers, the sounds the owls made and whether they were lighter or heavier than expected … but the experience was about seven years back and I can barely remember what I had for tea yesterday, never mind information from that long ago! I do remember that it was a lovely, uplifting experience, though.
Around the same time, I visited Duncombe Park near Helmsley in North Yorkshire where they have the National Centre for Birds of Prey. I met a pair of gorgeous spectacled owls and a ural owl, although as part of their flying display rather than a private owl experience.
Did you know that, according to the International Ornithological Committee, there are a whopping 254 species of owl? Amazing, isn’t it? I thought I’d seen a lot of owls in my lifetime in parks and at events but it seems I’ve barely scratched the surface! It’s fabulous being able to see owls and learn all about them at places like Bridlington Animal Park and Duncombe Park but my dream would be to see an owl in the wild. I’ve heard them but I’ve never actually seen one. Hopefully one day.
Big owlish hugs
Jessica xx