Wild and wise: why I love owls
Owls aren’t just my personal fascination — they are the spirit of my brand, Chouette Sauvageonne. Here’s why.
chouette (French, noun) • Owl • Informal: “great,” “fantastic”
sauvageonne (French, adjective/noun) • Wild, untamed, spirited
Owls in Myth and History
Owls have been companions to human imagination for thousands of years. Across cultures and continents, they appear as symbols of wisdom, mystery, and sometimes foreboding. The ancient Greeks paired the owl with Athena, goddess of wisdom, while in Roman times the sight of an owl was thought to foretell important events. In Native American traditions, owls often appear as protectors or guides. In parts of Africa and Asia, owls were sometimes feared as harbingers of death, while in Japan they came to symbolise good fortune and protection.
This mixture of reverence and fear shows just how powerful their presence has always been. What unites these stories is a sense that owls are not ordinary birds — they stand slightly apart, watching with eyes that seem to know more than they reveal.
Owls in the Wild
Globally, there are more than 200 species of owl, ranging from the tiny Elf Owl of the American deserts — barely the size of a sparrow — to the magnificent Eurasian Eagle Owl, whose wings can span two metres. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, adapting to forests, tundra, deserts, and cities alike.
This adaptability is itself extraordinary; they are survivors, able to thrive in environments where many other species cannot. Some species, like the Snowy Owl, migrate vast distances across the Arctic, while others, such as the Burrowing Owl, live in underground tunnels and hunt by day — a reminder that there is no single way to be an owl.
What fascinates me most is how they live. Owls are supreme hunters, with hearing so sharp that a Barn Owl can detect a mouse moving under snow or leaves. Their faces, shaped like satellite dishes, funnel the faintest sound straight to their ears. Their eyes, fixed forward, give them binocular vision like ours, but on a scale many times more sensitive. Their eyes are also proportionally enormous — in some species, they account for up to 5% of body weight — giving them astonishing night vision. And of course, their silent flight — engineered through fringed wing feathers — means their prey never hears them coming.
Every aspect of them is designed for precision, for survival, for mastery of their world.
Owls in the UK
Here in the UK, we are fortunate to have five species: the Tawny Owl, Barn Owl, Little Owl, Long-eared Owl, and Short-eared Owl. The Tawny is the most common, its haunting “twit-twoo” familiar to anyone who has walked in the woods at night. The Barn Owl, with its ghostly white heart-shaped face, is perhaps the most iconic, gliding low over fields at dusk.
Yet even these familiar species face challenges. The Barn Owl population has declined sharply over the last century due to habitat loss, pesticides, and road traffic. Today, there are thought to be around 4,000 breeding pairs in the UK — a fraction of what once existed. Tawny Owls remain numerous, but their numbers too are under pressure. The Little Owl, introduced to Britain in the 19th century, has also suffered a steady decline in recent decades, while Short-eared Owls — which nest on the ground — are vulnerable to changes in farmland and moorland management.
Why They Matter to Me
It is this fragility that makes owls even more precious to me. They are resilient, but not invincible. They depend on us recognising their needs: safe habitats, sustainable farming practices, and protection from human-made dangers.
That’s why I chose owl rescue and rehabilitation as the cause supported by Chouette Sauvageonne. Across the country, volunteers and sanctuaries take in injured or orphaned owls, painstakingly nurse them back to health, and return them to the wild. It is quiet, unsung work — but essential if these birds are to remain part of our landscape and imagination.
Owls inspire me because they combine qualities that feel deeply human and noble: silence that hides strength, vision that pierces darkness, individuality that stands apart from the flock. They are, in the truest sense, wild and wise. And it is their spirit that I hope to honour in Chouette Sauvageonne — not just through design, but through action, by helping to ensure that these extraordinary birds continue to glide across our skies for generations to come.