Midnight Owlspotting with Hannah Sparrow 🦉🌕 Bedtime Stories For Kids | Rewind

Abbe Opher (0:10)

Hello, and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of original bedtime stories and sleep meditations for kids, designed to make bedtime a dream. Hopefully, tonight will be one more lovely calm bedtime, as we're about to go and visit our bird-loving little friend, Hannah Sparrow, as she goes off into the hills camping with her dad. They're off to see if they can catch a glimpse of some owls.

Do you like camping? Have you ever slept outside, with only a sheet of fabric between you and the night? It's very special when you can hear everything. The mooing cows, the buying sheep, the footsteps of foxes if they smell something tasty in your bag. Or maybe it's your sweaty shoes thereafter. Let's imagine you've been out all day in the fresh air and you're now ready to climb into your sleeping bag. Cozy, warm and oh so ready to rest. Sigh and close your eyes. Relax back into the mattress below and feel your body go heavy and still as you breathe gently in and out. Listening closely for the swoosh of wings or the pretty soft song of a passing feathered friend. This is Midnight Owlspotting with Hannah Sparrow by Jane Thomas. Before we begin, here's a quick ad break. Then we'll start tonight's bedtime story. If you'd like to support our podcast, enjoy ad-free listening and unlock all our premium stories, you can join the Koko Club. To join, follow the link in the show notes. I know how much you love Koko and how much I love telling his stories. Well, this week I met a little koala named Kiki and I have to tell you about her. Kiki is from Little Live Pets and she is the sleepiest baby koala you will ever meet. Shhh, don't tell Koko I said that. She's soft, snugly and just the right size to hold. Kiki is interactive and acts just like a real baby koala. She really yawns and opens and closes her eyes. She blinks her eyes and yawns as she doses off to sleep in your arms. Feed her eucalyptus from the little leaf that comes with her and hear her munching. Tickle her tummy and watch her adorable reactions. Cuddle her and pat her when she needs it. With over 40 sounds and reactions, she responds to your touch, care and play. It's so cute. She even comes with an adoption certificate so you can welcome her into your family. Bring joy home with Little Live Pets My Baby Koala Kiki today. Available at all major retailers. Little Live Pets.

Did you know that there's a theory that sometimes people choose their job or hobby because it is in some way linked to their name. So, if your surname is Stump, maybe you'll become a Lumberjack. Or if it's Gold, maybe you'll become a Jewelry Maker. Or if you're called Hannah Sparrow, chances are you're going to really like birds. And with our Hannah, that is absolutely the case. Hannah Sparrow with that surname was quite literally born to love birds. She is what is known as a Twitcher, someone who travels the world looking for all different kinds of birds. And she always travels with her father. So it isn't really surprising that when Hannah Sparrow's father suggested they go camping one night, up on the hills outside the town where they live, and stay up late, late, late into the night so they can see the owls, Hannah said yes. We join Hannah Sparrow now in her bedroom, packing for her camping trip to look at birds of the night. She's just hauled her backpack out from under her bed and is doing her best to squash her sleeping bag into its little sack, which involves kneeling on it and squeezing it and asking it very nicely, and then less nicely, if it would just get into the sack and be done with it. Then it's the turn of the pillow to be squashed and squeezed into the smallest space possible, and then she heads to her wardrobe and pulls out everything that's warm and cosy, because even though it's still summer, you never know when it's suddenly going to get cold at night and there is nothing worse than trying to fall asleep with cold toes and a cold nose. Into the bag go socks and more socks, jumpers and more jumpers, those lovely tartan pyjamas that she usually wears at Christmas, all red and fluffy, and then a scarf and a woolly hat and a second woolly hat in case she somehow mysteriously loses the first. Next a pair of gloves and one more pair of socks just to be on the safe side. Then there's the toothbrush and toothpaste, because just because you're camping, it doesn't mean you need to let your standards slip. And her teddy Charles, because even though he's never told her he likes looking for birds, he hasn't told her he doesn't either. So best to be on the safe side with that one. Hannah checks that her father has the tent and then checks that he has the poles too, because those are quite an important part of the tent. She checks he has pegs and something to hit the pegs into the ground, and a roll mat to sleep on, and the teeny tiny stove they use to boil water so they can have a nice hot drink while they look at the stars and wait for the owls to arrive, which reminds her, mugs. She grins as she chooses the one with an owl on it and the words, have a hoot, very appropriate for tonight's adventure. Her mother hands over the packet of sandwiches, all wrapped in silver foil and packed away in the lunch box Hannah takes to school, and two slices of her homemade chocolate cake, also carefully wrapped and packed. It's that chocolate cake which comes in two layers, with a thick layer of cream in the middle, and an even thicker layer of cream on top, and some round the edges, and oh my goodness, it is possibly close to being the best chocolate cake in the world. And the day passes slowly, because that is always what happens when we want them to pass quickly, and Hannah Sparrow does some pages of a colouring book, Kingfisher's and Parrot's of course, all bright blues and greens and reds and yellows, but that doesn't seem to pass much time at all. So then she tidies up her drawers, taking every item of clothing out and folding it carefully, and putting everything back, and that doesn't take up much time either. She walks around the garden and says hello to all the flowers, and hangs out with a bumblebee for a while. But even that doesn't take up much of the day. But finally, it is time to bring the backpack into the hall, and then from the hall into the back of the car, and everything is pushed and squeezed and squashed until it fits. Then, Hannah and her father drive down the street. Two minutes later, they drive back, and he dashes into the garage, and picks up the special folding camping chairs he'd forgotten to include, and then they try again. Hannah and her father head through the town, stopping impatiently at traffic lights, and waiting at crossings while people pass. They all seem to walk more slowly than Hannah even thought possible. But finally, finally, they're at the edge of the town, and the houses and the gardens are bigger, and sitting further back from the road. And then, there are hardly any houses at all, and there are next to no street lights, and then they are there, away from the town, heading up to the hills, where nobody has ever bothered to build a house. There is a particular place they're headed, which is a clearing by a group of trees, that Hannah's father thinks will be the most likely spot for owls to live. They pitch the tent, which is always a lot easier to think about than to do. Because when you're doing it, suddenly the poles don't seem to want to go where you think they should. And the ground has lumps in it that you are sure were never there before. Everywhere you try to put a peg, there's an enormous rock waiting to get in the way of it. But finally, they've put the tent up, or at least they've done something that means they can sleep under canvas that night. And they have rolled out the roll mats for sleeping, adding their sleeping bags that are slowly expanding again, now that they're out of their squashed little spaces. The pillows are in place. Charles is snuggled into the top of Hannah's sleeping bag, and she's put her toothbrush and toothpaste in the little pocket that sits by her pillow, so she can find them easily enough in the night. Turns out, they've forgotten to bring a torch, but it's okay. There's a full moon tonight, and an extremely bright full moon at that. Everything has this magical silvery sort of glow that comes from having the moon shine down on it. Hannah and her father decide to make a little fire in front of their two camping chairs. They gather rocks and put them in a ring to make a good border, and then hunt around for fallen leaves and twigs and sticks. The fire lights quickly and is cosy and warm, and Hannah parks a marshmallow on the end of a stick and holds it towards the heat.