Unidentified bird(?) noise

Thanks. I wouldn't be confident enough to rule it out, but I've heard a fair few barn owls, and it really didn't sound like that to me, unless there's an unusual noise they make in certain situations that I've never heard. It also wasn't the kind of place I'd normally expect to encounter a barn owl.

The recording isn't brilliant, but I heard it quite clearly, several times. It was a lot more of a kind of wavering whinny noise than the screech barn owls tend to make, and each individual vocalisation seemed longer in duration than anything I've ever heard from an owl.

Barn Owls can make longer protracted calls depending on the individual and the situation (see here for example https://xeno-canto.org/731329 ) but have you ruled out a fox?

They can certainly scream.

I've been through a lot of calls on Xeno Canto and I'm increasingly convinced it wasn't a barn owl.

I did wonder about a fox, though it wasn't much like any fox I've ever heard. I'm wondering if there are any other mammals it could have been. I know deer can make some pretty weird noises.

Deer can definitely make some 'scream-like' noises as can Badgers - but I'm now thinking fox and possibly a mating pair.

If you can get another recording then that'd be great.

Weird noise 2.m4a

Yes I'll definitely try and get a better recording - it's really bugging me! This is another one from about five minutes after the first, but I'm not sure it's any more help - its a bit quieter/further away

Thanks. I am wondering if the other bird calls on the recording are confusing things a bit, or if I'm hearing it more clearly when I listen to the recording since I heard it first hand, because honestly it wasn't similar to that at all. The more I listen to fox recordings, the less I think it was a fox.

I was a kind of high pitched, whistling/whining noise - it didn't sound like a scream. It repeated several times, and each individual vocalisation was quite long - maybe 3 or 4 seconds, with an odd kind of vibrato quality.

sounds like a fox, its freaky the first time you hear them scream like that

I've increased the volume and cleaned up the hiss a bit (hope that's okay OP) so hopefully members might hear something they didn't hear the first time.

So after listening again - and through headphones - I 'think' there are possibly 2 individuals as at times the calls seem to overlap each other.

I also 'think' I can hear a hoot and some barking as well as definite screams, which brings me back to owls and foxes I'm afraid.

Obviously, that's just me, but sometimes the most common answer (owls/ foxes) is the answer.

But that's just my opinion and I welcome other members offering theirs.