Have you spotted the owls yet?

As you walk around over the next few days, you may notice some rather quirky visitors have landed on campus, in the shape of two rather large owls. They are part of The Big Hoot, a large scale charity art project hitting the city this summer, to encourage people to get out, explore the city and support Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

The Big Hoot has placed 89 specially designed owls around the city where they will stay for ten weeks, before being auctioned off for Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Two of these owls are now on the University campus, one next to the law building arches on University Square and the other by the Faraday Statue near West Gate.

The owls’ designs, Hootankhamun and The Bone Ranger, were chosen by the University Cultural and Research Collections team. Hootankhamun is an Egyptian-themed owl who links to our Egyptian collections while the Bone Ranger depicts the circle of life, using a glow-in-the-dark element to add an extra layer to the piece.  

The pair have already got people talking and tweeting, using their very own Twitter handles to interact. They can be contacted at @hootankhamun and @bone_ranger. Several events are planned over the summer and all details will be available on their webpages.

The Big Hoot is already animating the city of Birmingham, and the University is excited to be playing its part. By hosting two owls, we want to provide an exciting and interesting addition to the owl trail in Edgbaston, encouraging families to venture to a part of the city they may not have visited before, and see what campus has to offer.