It's 'owl' about birds of prey

Meet Simon - he's often out and about, accompanied by an owl or two that he's looking after.

You may have seen Simon walking with his owls, I did along Old Hunstanton beach - and it caught my attention. After telling me he has more than ten owls and helps rescue injured ones, I asked if we could meet up and chat about it in more detail.

Rambo and Moon are with him when we do - one on his shoulder, the other on a gloved arm.

Simon with Moon and Rambo

“Rambo is an Eurasian Eagle owl, he’s 27 years old. The previous owners who had him just locked him up in an enclosure for far too long, and they had a breeder ring on him that was far too small and it grew into his foot, so he’s actually only got use of one leg. There’s no way he’ll ever be able to be released as he can’t hunt, and he’s not a native bird.”

Then on to the barn owl, “She’s 14 weeks old, she doesn’t have a bad story but she was captive bred by someone who didn’t know how to look after her.”

We walk over to a fence where the owls happily perch, both beautiful - although Rambo is slightly intimidating (he is after all one of the largest owl species and has a wing span of over a metre).

Simon says he’s always been interested in birds, “My dad was a game keeper so I’ve always been into birds of prey. And an ex-girlfriend had an owl, I had really bad mental health at the time and I used to look after it - and that was it for me, I was hooked. So I learnt everything I needed to about them.”

And he’s now putting that knowledge to good use, he tells me he's been helping injured owls for 3 years and that this year he’s released a few back into the wild, after bringing them back to health.

“It’s heartbreaking what some of the owls go through. We had a barn owl that had been kept in a budgie cage for 3 years, couldn’t open its wings properly. A tawny owl, it laid in my hand and was just covered in thick mud where it had just been on the floor with no perches. And we had a little Indian scops owl which had a little ingrown beak and it couldn’t feed itself.”

I ask how it feels to release the birds, “It’s one of the nicest things you will ever do, but it’s also quite hard to let them go because you get attached to them.”

Adding he dedicates the majority of his time to the owls, “I love it, it’s something I never thought I would do but now I’ve got such a passion for it, I could never do anything else. I’m up in the morning at 5 o’clock with the birds, I’m out with them every night."

"I take them everywhere - hence why people see me around towns and stuff because I just take them everywhere I go, I take a different bird most days.  People absolutely love it, some have endless questions - and that’s great I’ll explain what we do.”

He has a volunteer, Andrew, who's been helping out for around 7 months, "I've always loved owls," Andrew tells me, "I met Simon when he was out with the owls and asked him if I could help out in anyway.  The releasing part is something else, until you've been there and felt it - you just can't explain it."

Andrew and Simon

Simon says he also goes to forest schools, which get a great reaction from the children, “I see some parents in the street a month or so later and they say their son or daughter is still talking about it. It’s great for the children I think to see and learn about the birds.”

Before I leave I ask for a few facts. “Their eyes are fixed in their head, so that’s why they turn their heads all the way around. And colour of the eye - colour of the sky, so in general if an owl’s got yellow eyes it’s a daytime one, orange eyes it’s a morning and dusk one and black eyes - it’s nocturnal.”

He then asks if I’d like to hold one - I opt for Moon. As I do he smiles, turns to Rambo and says, “Look at them - they’re just so majestic. They do for me what I do for them, they help with my mental health and they’re just amazing. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”