Thank you for the responses.... after listening to the recordings of a barn
owl, I'm fairly confident that is what it was. How can such a gorgeous
looking bird make such a SPINE CHILLING noise!!! Still gives me shivers
thinking of it. If it had not been for wanting to check my horses weren't
being spooked by the commotion I certainly wouldn't have stepped foot out of
the door!
To add to the spookiness of the event, when I first went out and was
scanning the dark paddock with my torch, I caught sight of two lights coming
towards me quite fast. My first reaction was "Oh MY, maybe I should go"....
then I thought it may just be the reflectors on my horses rug as she's
coming up the paddock to see why I'm out with a torch late at night (and did
I have any hay with me...). Lo and behold, it turned out to be TWO very
bright eyes of a healthy looking fox! It ran to the nearby dam, and then I
put the earlier noise down to the fox having caught something further down
the paddock and must have been slowly dismembering it, hence the blood
curdling screams! I was then trying to work out just WHAT the fox could
have caught.
On the second trip outside to the same noise, the fox was happily romping in
our garden!! With the fearsome racket now coming from the high trees that
are on the opposite side of the property. That is when I was certain it was
a bird and not a ground animal. Maybe the fox and owl were having a
property dispute over some prey earlier?? It really sounded like a fight,
more than just something calling.
Oh, and my horses were tucked up in a corner of the paddock, totally
unstressed by the whole thing. I actually saw the fox almost run under
their legs!!! It certainly was an 'interesting' night.
Thanks again,
Karen
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