PotM Calendar
The Photo of the Month (see gallery) is a year-round calendar of wildlife and nature images with story contributions from visitors, friends and fellow photographers.
When it comes to nature photography, it's not only those exciting tales of high adventure that often accompany talent and skill for a fabulous result. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a well-timed shot or a well-framed one can say as much about you as a photographer, too. So, if you'd like to showcase one of your pictures here, free, for one calendar month with a bio or personal account, then this page is for you.
Hoots by Roger Cox
Toft Farm, Lincolnshire
It’s late. You’re walking past a churchyard in a quiet rural village; suddenly, from within its trees, you hear it. A haunting stuttering “wuh-whoo*” – a sound synonymous with the atmospheric darkness of a cemetery, or an eerie wood. It’s a tawny owl. Specifically, a male. Alerting other males to its presence and perhaps out to elicit a response from a female.
Highly vocal, highly territorial, and highly active at night, the tawny owl is Britain’s most widespread owl and one of our most common birds of prey; known for making over a dozen different sounds based on the classic ter-whit-too-whoo call, which, in fact, is a female making the "ter-whit” sound and the male responding with a “wuh-wuh-whoo*.”
Although an inhabitant of mature broad-leafed woodland, they’re also found in urban areas, provided there’s a sufficient number of trees with invertebrates, small birds, mammals, or even fish to silently ambush from above. Asymmetrical super-hearing, long-sighted night vision, twin dish-like eye-sockets, and a head that can turn 270° all significantly boost their hunting prowess, but many in their first year starve to death due to a lack of suitable habitats. Like all raptors, tawny owls pair for life, but make no nest. Instead, they’ll occupy squirrel dreys, tree hollows, crevices, etc.
Breeding begins in early spring, when couples across Europe, as far as Western Siberia, are busy procuring nest sites and, as parents, prepared to give two hoots as a warning to intruders with more than just a ter-whit and a too-whoo.
Special announcements or simple hellos. Place your message or link here as part of your PotM agreement. With two places left for 2026, the PotM Calendar is closed until October 18th. To learn more about posting news, comments and events under a PotM agreement, please visit our Terms of Use page, where you can submit your photo (along with your story) during the last two weeks of every month.