Spooky hooter!

ALAN ROBERTS, LANCASHIRE

Earlier this summer I made my regular trip to a fishing complex in Devon. It's a residents- only location with apartments and several lakes to choose from.

I bivvied up on the main carp lake and a short while later a chap set up on the opposite bank aided by his better half, but he didn’t have a bivvy.

It wasn’t long before he wandered around to talk to me. He explained that he had not fished here before so asked about the lake. I told him what I knew which included that in recent years, after dark was when the bigger fish came out to play.

He had never fished at night and said he was worried about playing fish in the dark. I explained that there was a full moon so there should be some light to help.

The next day he arrived at the lake having first made a trip to the local tackle shop to buy a bivvy and bedchair. He and his wife sat outside his new abode until late evening when she went back to the apartment.

Following a quiet night, I woke to find that there were no signs of life on the opposite bank. I found his rods cast aside into the long grass and his bivvy open but empty; angling's ‘ Marie Celeste’.

Around lunchtime he appeared, looking sheepish and explained what happened. He had snuggled down in his new bivvy and didn’t take long to nod off.

However, around 2am he awoke to a scratching noise on top of the bivvy. Cautiously he had stuck his head out and was greeted by a large owl. It must've been as surprised as he was because it raised its wings and screeched.

The full moon was behind the bivvy and the owl, with wings spread, was fully framed in the moon. Completely spooked, he then tore up the hill before briefly returning to yank in his rods. He said he had never run so fast in his life and was soon in bed.

He didn’t stay out any night after that and I wouldn’t be surprised if one “hardly used” bivvy can soon be found on eBay.