Looking Back: ‘It was lovely to have an owl on my shoulder again’

Joe Wright with Sparkle the barn owl in 2020 - and the original photo of Joe in 1984 with Rocky

Here is the latest set of “then and now” pictures from Chris Porsz who has returned to the theme of reuniting people.

Chris said: “Joe Wright was often seen around Peterborough with pet barn owl Rocky perched on his shoulder. I took a photo of him at a country and western show in 1984.”

Joe said: “We hand-reared several rescue barn owls and I’d take Rocky into town on my shoulder, which made people smile. People would come up and stroke him, he was very tame and never tried to fly away. He used to live in my bedroom and when my alarm went off he would nibble my ear until I got out of bed.”

Eventually Rocky and the other owls moved to the garden shed, but one day someone broke into the shed and released them.

Joe said: “They thought they were saving the owls, but they were hand reared so couldn’t live in the wild. It was very sad.”

Joe, who still lives locally and works for Perkins Engines, went to The Exotic Pet Refuge in Deeping St James for the reunion picture in 2020 and posed with Sparkle the barn owl.

He added: “It was lovely to have an owl on my shoulder again and brought back great memories.”

•Street photographer Chris Porsz’s unique reunion pictures – where he recreates pictures he took decades ago – has earned him international recognition.

Most of his pictures feature Peterborough people and places and are often the result of painstaking detective work by Chris.