Calls for chimney bird guards following Tawny Owl rescue

The public have been urged to install bird guards in their chimneys following the rescue of two Tawny Owls in Norfolk.

Chimney sweep Darrel Cucu went to a house in Corpusty after the owners heard hooting from their chimney. He had to remove a woodburner before he could take a look, and saw the owls' staring back at him, as the Eastern Daily Press first reported.

Mr Cucu manage to free both owls and they flew off through a window. He told BBC Radio Norfolk he was no stranger to being called out to pigeons or Common Starlings stuck in chimneys – but Tawny Owls were a different matter altogether.

One of the Tawny Owls that got trapped (Darrel Cucu).

Owl predicament

Mr Cucu said. "You couldn't just grab them ... so I had to try to destabilise them to make them fall down the chimney to grab them by hand."

He said the birds, which had apparently been stuck in the chimney for two days, seemed "quite well".

The sweep managed to persuade one owl down, and it flew on to a window sill – and he captured the other in his hand.

Chimney bird guards

Asked how they might have ended up in this predicament, Mr Cucu said: "They probably just fell in. That's a common issue and it happens often to birds."

He said the best way to avoid a similar mishap was to "fit a bird wire on to your chimney", which, he added, was especially important if the home's chimney was no longer being used and had been plastered over at ground level.