My special visitor

This beautiful owl perched on the down pipe under the eaves of my house yesterday. I love owls and was very privileged to have him sitting there!! Can anyone identify it? I think it may be a grass owl, but the face is much darker than usual.

UPDATE

Today is the 2nd of March and the owl is still here. So he's now "my owl". An owl box is on the agenda! I will be updating as things develop. Yesterday I went outside to watch as he started the night hunt. It starts at about 7:45. Prior to that there seems to be quite a bit of grooming. (Just in case he meets someone?) Suddenly he launched himself and flew to the corner of the house where I was sitting just below my bedroom window. He landed on the downpipe by the window, and seemed to be scrutinising the wall ( lots of body movement - it was now deep dusk). During the day it is very obvious that this corner is home to many geckos. Could he be looking for a favourite snack? Then he hopped onto my open window. I realised that if this were to happen in the middle of the night when I was in bed, I might get a serious fright!!
After this he flew onto the gutter of the roof and made a huge squelching pee or poo. It turned out to be a white stain on the brickwork below, when observed by my dogs and me next day. At this point I went inside. But when I popped out some time later he was launching himself from the day time perch and making trips into the neighbourhood. Next day the pellets on the ground prove that he caught enough to eat.

I feel so honoured to have this beautiful creature staying here. Every time a neighbour starts up a weed eater or lawnmower, I'm thinking, "what a noisy world this is". I just want this owl to feel like this is a safe haven.