I feel I must tell someone about this.
Just sitting here, reading through the forums, when a heard a screeching noise from the garden.
I went out to look and was confronted by a huge owl.
As I walked towards it, it swooped down at me, I ducked and jumped out of the way.
It sat on the fence next to me screeching so loud that the neighbours came out to investigate the noise.
I have just defrosted some mice for the snakes feed for tonight and thought that this could be a good opertunity to get some owl photos. I have never seen one around here, ever.
With a welders glove on one hand and holding a mouse I approached the owl. It was about 18 inches tall and covered with downy feathers, I tried to position the camera and before I knew it, the owl and the mouse were gone.
My heart is still beating, I have never seen anything move so fast or silently. I think it must be someones pet owl as it was definitly not scared of humans. I will keep a lookout for it again and try to get photos.