Return of the Night Owl

This story is for the Vocal Return of the Night Owl Challenge .

🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉

The spring equinox was past , the fields were ready for the new crops, and the hedges were beginning to act as shelters for wildlife.

The barn was almost empty , maybe a weeks hay left for the cows before they went out. Then it would be waiting for the bales from the summer hay harvest , but that was months away, though there was an empty nest outside where a barn owl had once nested.

The Cows would soon be out in the fresh air eating fresh green grass instead of dry hay bales, but that would be another week at least before that happened.

Smoke rose from the chimney of the farmhouse as the farmer’s wife had fired up the stove for baking and the evening meal , plus hot water for washing.

There was a tractor and a baler , so this was not the land or time of John Constable's “Hay Wain” but a slightly more modern set-up. The farmer was making sure his equipment was ready for the summer. There was a trailer too as well , but all seemed to be in good working condition.

The farmer's wife had hung out sheets from the bedding wash hoping they would be dry by tomorrow. She also hung some towels on the circular drive close to the field gate.

The fields were flat and seeded waiting for the grass to grow , which it would over the coming months . Hay was needed to see the cattle over the winter.

Birds were singing , Insects buzzing , Butterflies butterflying , it was a calm warm spring day over the farm and the meadows. Children played in the park by the field and Dogs were running free , because the Cattle weren’t out yet.

Cuckoo’s sounded and there was a tapping which may have been a Woodpecker , but there were a lot of spring sounds going on in the day.

Sheep were on the hillside , hardier than the cattle though the grass they were feeding on was very sparse , but they seemed to be doing alright from it. Water from a stone trough and a pipe from who knows where, was the source of their drinking water.

This was a spring day where absolutely nothing was happening apart from clocks ticking , the sun shining , the odd cloud trespassing on the blue sky but it was just a day of nothing.

No words were spoken , there was no need , everyone appreciated the quiet and the time they had to get on with whatever they were doing. It was the sort of situation that the BBC couldn’t even make a program about, just twenty-four hours of quiet and calf from dawn until dusk and finally night.

There were other sounds and was that the sound of an Owl? The nest was empty so no one paid it any mind, but owls were as good as Cats for pest control , although Owls ate their prey while Cats dropped their kills in the kitchen.

Outside in the field the mice were in the hedge but were hungry, they knew there was sometimes food in the barn .It was going dark so it was probably safe to go and check it out , so they started across the field .

Close to the gate there was a sound and suddenly the Mouse in the claws of a swift flying creature. The Barn Owl had returned with the mouse in its claws heading towards the nest , over the gate and straight into a drying towel. The Barn Owl in the towel dropped the Mouse that ran into the barn , leaving the Barn Owl stunned and hungry , on the lookout for more unsuspecting food.