Scientific name: Asio flammeus (Pontoppidan, 1763)
Bird group: Owls
Field characters. 38 cm. Slightly larger than Long-eared Owl and often difficult to distinguish. Generally lighter, more yellowish-white below with more clear cut dark tips on underwings and a white trailing edge to wings (not obvious in pale individuals). Upperwings yellow with black rather than brown. Eyes yellow, not orange, surrounded by dark patches contrasting with pale remainder of face. Ear-tufts very short and hardly visible. Flight buoyant, with stiff wing beats interspersed with long glides on V-raised wings. More diurnal than other owls, but often also seen hunting at twilight. Perches on the ground. Solitary outside breeding season, but sometimes in small groups. Breeds on the ground.
Voice. In flight a barking 'whaw'; during display flight a soft low 'poo poo poo', performed together with wing-clapping.
Distribution. Widespread but never numerous. Summer visitor in north of region. Numbers fluctuate with vole populations.
Habitat. Found in open country with plenty of cover in form of tall grasses or low bushes, like moorland, tundra, marshes, and dunes.
Food. Predominantly voles, but also other small mammals and birds and occasionally insects.