Birdwatch: Long-eared owl

In birding, as indeed in life, it's what you don't expect that can be confusing. And on a sunny late summer's day, as I was hunting for grassland butterflies on my Somerset coastal patch, I certainly didn't think an owl would fly past.

My first reaction was surprise, followed by complete bewilderment. It was obviously too dark for a barn owl, so my first thought was a tawny. Superficially the rounded wings and mid-brown plumage did suggest this, our commonest species.