On last nights RATRun, an hour before dusk, we had just got onto the Tissington Trail when we disturbed a Barn Owl. It flew ahead of us, never further than 60yds away, for nearly a mile to Rivendale. It stopped briefly a couple of times and perched on a wall and a post, before we got too close, and off it went again.

A fantastic 8 or 9 minutes and neither of the six of us had ever observed a Barn Owl at such close quarters for that length of time.