To ask for your help in identifying a bird by sound only?

[JontyDoggle37]

It’s in some woods, I can’t see it. It’s daylight so shouldn’t be an owl. It sounds quite big, so not a sparrow or such. The sound is like a series of 8-10 ‘woo,woo,woo’ sounds, very soft, not screechy at all. It’s definitely not a wood pigeon, I’m very familiar with their call. All help appreciated!

Theres a bird identification group on facebook, they'll be able to help

I have heard tawny owls occasionally in daylight.

Ordinary pigeon? Collared dove? Owls do call sometimes during daylight though. Can you record it? There are lots of identifying clips of bird song online.
Just as an aside, the other day I thought I could hear a cuckoo, which is impossible at this time of year. I tracked the bird down and it was a crow. I can only think it was copying another bird because it certainly was not making a crow noise. Blackbirds are also mimics and have been known to copy the noise of police sirens. There is a chance you could be hearing a mimicking bird.

There's an app - BirdNET - that enables you to record bird song and it will identify it. It's a prototype by Cornell University. I've used it a few times and it works well.

Can you record it and share?

Tawnys sometimes are about in the day, short eared owls are diurnal too.

Lev Parikian did a twitter birdsong project where he recorded different birds each day and told you how to identify them.

levparikian.com/index.php/twitter-birdsong-project/