They are lovely owls. We get them down here in Surrey by the River Wey, in fact I saw one last night as I canoed up to a solo wild camp. Bloody difficult to get a photo of them, even though they often come close to me. You just never see them until they're flying, unconcerned, over the bows of your canoe just in front of you. They have a classic owl face, and those yellow eyes are amazing. Those Aberdeenshire owls look paler than ours under the wing.
Yes, the other bird is definitely not an owl! I'd go with female kestrel too.
Best I've got yet:
