Tawny owl in the darkening wood

Walking back at dusk through the marshy, spooky wood, I move quickly hoping to outrun the mosquitoes. Planes are always overhead and crows crow in the tree tops. Suddenly I hear an owl and stop. The call gets closer and all at once a dark shape flies across my path and zigzags away into the darkness between the trees. Maybe it was a trick of the fading light but it was much bigger than I expected. Western Europe is losing its bird populations fast. For future listening I want to be able to hear them still.