There are times when I think birding is about developing a sixth sense. Today I was out walking somewhere I’d never been before, I was loving being surrounded by glorious old trees and constant bird song, but then it started to rain, just lightly but enough to be unpleasant. I’d been out for several hours so figured I’d increase my pace and head back to the station for the train home. I was stomping along the track when I suddenly felt an overwhelming need to stop, turn around and look back the way I had come. There was no particular sound that triggered this feeling and I didn’t immediately see any reason to stop, until I looked up … and saw this gorgeous Tawny owl snoozing in a dead tree. Sixth sense, intuition, luck, call it what you want – it was certainly working for me today.