Its now the breeding season and I'm very busy!

Today saw the start of the nest site monitoring season, and Tawny Owls were the first birds to be checked. We set off early this morning for county Dorset, and a magical woodland so full of colour in the spring like weather. Actually, the wind was quite cold, this until we started climbing steep hill after steep hill, we could have have been on the equator after that.

As no doubt many of you know, especially those who have heard me moaning about the affects of climate change on various species, and also few of you close to me would have heard me curse the last 2 summers for being disastrous for Owl species (except Little Owls). I will now digress, this only because the Blackbirds in my garden last spring and summer produced in all 4 clutches of young and without much predation and plenty of food had an amazing success rate. Whilst this year all but 1 of the first brood of 4 is dead! So whats the difference? Well for those who have forgotten, the last 2 summers have been wash outs which is great for Blackbirds and Mallard Ducks, awful for Owls and Blue Tits, Swallows, House Martins etc, etc, etc, etc. But now the Spring of 09 is dry, but its sting is the fact that I would not say its been warm. Now my garden looks more like a desert than the lake of last year. All this means very few Worms, slugs and alike. So this explains why the Blackbirds are having a bad time, but what about the Owls.

Well for Tawny Owls things could not get any worse. So today we have checked 30 Tawny Owl nesting boxes in two Dorset woodlands, my early predictions of a better year for Tawnies is based on the silence of Tawny Owls during the Long-eared Owl surveys of Mendip and Quantock during February/March, were as in bad productivity years they keep calling.

These 2 in the picture above don't look much like Tawny Owls, more like they are keeping an eye out for any Tawny Owls, in case they become part of the menu.

Was this going to be another false start to the season? First ten boxes checked and no Owls!
We continued our mission around these incredible woodlands. The smell of Garlic was everywhere and there almost seemed to be a great battle of the woodland plants being played out before us.

On one side the Garlic now in flower, battling against the Bluebell for space and ultimately supremacy across the woodland floor.

Within these woods there was just so many flora sights, and many different Bird species singing, I was almost being overwhelmed by the sheer brilliance of it all.

Spotted Orchid

So to conclude, was I right or not? Well out of 30 Tawny Owl boxes checked 9 had nothing in them at all. Jackdaws occupied 5, with 7 being used by Grey Squirrels, 3 were occupied by Stock Doves and Great Tits had taken over just 1, and wait for it.... Tawny Owl's much improved on last year were found in 5 boxes. This is a great success so far and only the beginning of course, however if this result pans out across Somerset and North Somerset the night air of summer will be filled once again with the sounds of many Tawny Owlets

So here's the pictures you are all waiting to see!

Three of the Owl pairs were still on eggs, whilst the other 2 had both 2 young each. If these 2 woodlands set the standard then these nests are earlier than last year, but 2/3 weeks later on my records of 10 years ago. The most important thing to come out of this is that this is still going to be a much better Tawny year than we have seen for sometime, and boy do they need it! There are many more Tawny Owl nests now to monitor and this timing comes with the news that some barn Owls have began egg laying very early, this means its going to get very busy. I have also checked calling Little Owls near to home, however this was back in late March and again the news is not just good but its very good, as I left off last Autumn saying that they were back calling in areas they had not been heard for around 10 years. So that has continued, pairs in March were recorded calling in all but 2 of the historical sites. However how there success pans out during this dry spell will be interesting.

NOTE FOR All COP GROUPS.

For those of you now waiting for boxes to be checked you will tell from this blog entry, we need to set dates for Tawnies quickly!

For those of you interested in using these results as a climate change barometer then stay tuned, there will be some interesting results being published soon.

BFN and see some of you really soon, oh and if you can't get hold of me, then I just might really be up a tree!

The return of Jemima Parry Jones

Jemima Parry-Jones MBE and Red Kite

A couple of weeks ago, we had an official Hawk and Owl Trust visit to the International Centre for Birds Of Prey http://www.icbp.org/. I remember as a young naturalist being inspired by the original owner and founder the great Falconer Philip Glasier who would give his time freely during our visits to talk with me, mainly about wildlife and in particular wild owls.

As most people know the centre was taken over by his daughter Jemima Parry-Jones MBE, then JPJ left to conquer the U.S.A. Now before this story gets too complicated lets bring it up to date. Now Jemima is back at the Newent location she sold just a few years ago.

It was really good to see her back home doing what she does best! During one of three flying displays JPJ apologised to the audience for the fact the centre had only been re opened since February so Birds flying were not yet fully fit. Now folks I have seen some flying displays in my time, and all the birds did very well indeed, in particular the last Falcon which was the best Lanner Falcon flying I had seen for many years. So Mima, if you are reading this, if that's below par I can't wait to see the real thing! People often ask me where they can see the best flying displays and I always used to say Newent with JPJ or Ashley Smith at Hawk Conservancy, Weyhill, Wilts. Now I can say it again with pride and know that no one will be let down.

Welcome back Mima you have been missed!

Here is the link again to the website http://www.icbp.org/ if you want a great day out with Birds of Prey whether you are taking pictures or genuinely interested in the art of Falconry and of course Bird of Prey conservation you will not be let down, get yourself off to Newent a.s.a.p.

I took lots of pictures so here are just a few.

Songs of Praise

Yes its true, if you watch Songs of Praise on May 3rd you will see me on "Songs of Praise".

Easter Rabbit

The dawn chorus season has started, and thanks to so many that want to take part in this years events means I have had to put more early mornings on than ever before! I do think the popularity of this years dawn chorus is because people are fed up with the gloom and boom of the credit crunch and everything else on the news. For those of you that have never done this before, well its a magical experience. We meet at 0400 hrs, walk for about half an hour to a secluded woodland, this were at that time of the morning the smell of wild garlic will wake you up if nothing else. I point out all the birds singing as we become apart of the awakening world around us.

Around 0600 we move into the open ground to listen for Willow Warblers, Yellowhammer, Skylarks, Redstart etc. Then by 0730hrs its breakfast! On a nice sunny morning its a magical way to observe the dawn breaking, and even on rainy mornings the birds won't let us down.

I'm off now for an Easter break for a few days. Wishing you all a happy Easter and lots of chocolate, yum yum!

Long eared Owl Project on BBC1 Countryfile

Watch BBC1 on Sunday 29th March at 1100hrs, you will see Otus and myself on the programme talking about the Long-eared Owls and their conservation.
This was recorded last Tuesday on the Mendip Hills with John Craven.

Sorry I have not been blogging for a while, but I'm trying to finish off projects before the end of March, and then start new ones. I will try and give a more in depth update when I have time.

Here's some pictures of John Craven, Otus and myself during the filming.

I have to say John Craven is a real professional, really nice gentleman, showing a genuine interest and understanding of the natural world, and he really was the easiest person to work with, yet incredibly creative. I know many of you will say "so, that's what he is like on screen".

If you re reading this John, hope to work with you again soon.

Don't forget all you BBC Countryfile fans, the show is moving to its new time slot after this Sundays programme, to Sunday evenings, 1900hrs on BBC1 for one hour.

By request: A recorded jam, me playing two guitars, but not at once

Yes here it is, as requested by more than one of you! I recorded this in about half an hour. I have called it "Muck About" as that is what it was. Made up on the spot so to speak. The two guitars I'm playing are the 6 string part of the CSL double neck, and a Fender squire strat. I know the piece is total over indulgence but hey what would you except, when let loose with a drum machine 16 track recorder and 2 guitars. Its a bit long but your hearing it as recorded no editing at all.

Lizzie Brown "Singer" has agreed to do some serious recording with me, this as soon as we both have 5 mins, and hopefully you will hear us play live again, as soon as Kenton returns for Brazil which is supposed to be sometime in May.



Next blog entry from me will be about the Long eared Owl survey currently taking place in Somerset.

The Beast Comes Home 1970 to 2009

When I used to walk on stage with this guitar they use to call it "The Beast" Maybe because of its weight, or more than likely because of its incredible sound. I'm of course referring to my double necked guitar. This 12 and 6 string electric guitar has had a complete make over and restored to its original glory by Guitar expert Charles Sundquist from Stoke St Gregory.

The Beast

I have not used this guitar for at least five years, and really thought it was the end of it.

However Charles has done an amazing job on it, completely re-doing the wiring, pick ups and the machine heads. One of its main problems was that it was unplayable due to the frets being pitted, again the workmanship that's gone into the neck is incredible as I have just been playing it now, and it sounds better than I have ever known.

I bought the Guitar in 1991, and according to Charles it was made in Japan around the early 1970s, its a Gibson copy made by CSL, and looks like 2 Gibson SG's bolted, and not glued together. Charles has also re wired the guitar to probably as he says "the way it should have been" so that you can have both necks switched on at the same time. I think when I bought it, someone had probably already changed things from its original spec, and Charles has painstakingly taken it back in time to what it should have done. I have just played it again now and can't wait to get this guitar back on stage. So many songs were written with this guitar, and now I must say once again it plays so much better than ever.

Charles plays his musicman Guitar/Me on the double neck

Reunited with an old friend

According to Charles it may well be a collectors item, but to me its something that should be played on recordings and also live as well, in other words used!

Hey Kenton! The Drummer of Raptor currently somewhere in Brazil, if you are reading this, then time to come home we have some serious rocking to do...

Charles thanks for all your help with this guitar, it really sounds like new! And full of inspiration..

Snow stops the Long-eared owl survey

Just spent the weekend on Mendip Hills. Only just got there, were as the Snow was melting here in Portishead, but on Mendip you may as well been on a different planet. The picture below is the after affects of Thursday 5th Feb blizzard, the drift in this Mendip lane is measured at around 5 foot.

With the landscape transformed, many species of bird seemed to move out from these top areas, but predators like Kestrel Buzzard, and Owls such as Tawny and Barn were falling victim to the conditions. However some were surviving and good to hear story's from one such Mendip farm, were by Barn owls and even Little Owls were holding on, indeed this farm still one week afterwards has got a lot of Snow still lying in the fields.

Above is a Rabbit hole, which was buried under Snow however within 24hours you can see the Rabbits are back in action and judging by the tracks leading away from the hole managing to get by. Below is the view looking towards the Velvet Bottom (Somerset Wildlife Trust reserve) gate.
Walking in the Snow along this path was really quite tiring as in places on the footpath it was 2 foot deep, I really needed the Swedish Snow shoes for this walk!

The contrast of light at sunset was stunning, from the fire of the sunset sky, to the almost Artic looking scenery of the open top of the Mendip Hills
In the picture below its not Snowing, this is in fact Snow being blown around by the bitter north easterly wind, this is what was causing some of the major drifting. On the night of the 7 th of February this areas night time temperature went down to -10C, this due mainly to the wind chill factor.
And finally below is St Hugh's Church at Charterhouse, this a wonderful Swiss looking Church, always gets lots of photographs taken of it.
Well I must have taken around 500 pictures of the Snow, now I have not got the time to process them all, so this is just a selection. This weekend should have seen the start of the Long-eared Owl surveys. Yet one week on the deep snow still causes problems, so I have had to cancel both survey nights on Quantock and Mendip. A thaw is in place, yet during the evenings it freezes again.

Hopefully this is last of the Snow, and the surveying can begin next weekend. Once we have started any early results will be published here on this blog.

Long eared Owl Bio-diversity project Surveying Mid Feb-Mid March

We are just about to start the annual Long-eared Owl surveys.
This year we are surveying Quantock and Mendip Hills area's of outstanding natural beauty, (AONB). If you live within or around these areas and want to get involved, then please e mail me. I can send you dates, times and locations etc. Training is provided and the knowledge that you are helping one of the U.K's rarest Owls should be reason enough to get off the couch and out in the countryside at night.

We have been erecting willow baskets for Long-eared Owls on Mendip and Quantock, here's a some recording I did the other day on Quantock, which should explain more.

Don't forget for more information e mail me at info@chrissperring.com

Update on Bristol Eagle Owl (Oscar)

Dear All. After the news that Oscar the Eagle Owl (Bristol's very own one bird pest control unit) had been re-captured over Xmas, came the news all you Eagle Owl fans wanted to hear, in an e mail from the BOC's Ed Drewitt this morning. Thanks Ed..

Oscar is Back!

A visit to Wales finally leads to a vist to Gigrin Farm

The countless times I have driven along the Rhayader road in wonderful Wales, and of course the many times I have gone straight past Gigrin Farm (the Kite feeding station). I had never gone to have a look in all the years it has been open, but finally at the beginning of the week I went.

I was gobsmacked to say the least by the whole set up. OK so I have seen Red Kites before, in fact I have seen them here in the Gordano Valley and on the Mendip Hills and those sightings are increasing all the time. However I had never seen anything quite like this. It was nice to meet the people behind the scenes, very friendly indeed, and the little Spaniel Dog was great fun making me throw objects for him, constantly. Its not just seeing the Red Kites, but the whole set up at Gigrin farm is very special, the farm has a very good exhibition which goes beyond Kites and looks at other wildlife as well, there is also an excellent nature reserve, which takes you above the Kite feeding station, it consists of a mix of wetland, hill scrub and grassland areas, I must return to walk this reserve properly in the Spring.

Just before 1400 hrs the Red Kites began to gather in the fields close to the feeding area, very few were perched in trees, most were in the air. Indeed as I scanned the background hills I could see even more Red Kites heading towards the farm.

Count the Kites, and no that's not dust on the sensor in the background its Kites!

I did try counting them, but they were moving at such speed and constantly changing position, however the reliable figure for that day was around 400 Red Kites . At 1400 hrs the food appeared from the bucket of a tractor, which apparently had been changed a few days before, so the new tractor was making the Kites more nervous (honestly I did not notice). Other Birds joined in for the free meat. A Heron, Common Buzzard were around already and flew straight on to the ground whilst interestingly the Carrion Crows, Ravens and Rooks were much more nervous than I would have thought. The cheeky ones were three Starling who got out before any of them grabbed the meat and flew off. Back to the Buzzards, with only one Red Kite coming to ground to feed and the others all swooping in grabbing a bit of meat, eating it in the air, and then coming back for more. Where ever a Buzzard was sat quite happily munching on the ground, the Kites would gang up and quite deliberately dive bomb and snatch the pieces of meat that was the closest to any Buzzard that waas sat on the ground, this seemed to be planned with Kites working together to try and put the Buzzards off.

Buzzard tries to defend itself, obviously it will need an aspirin in the morning for this headache

Three Kites dive past two Buzzards, note Buzzards stay put for now

Do you sometimes get that feeling your being watched?

The spectacle went on for nearly 2 hours before the Birds started to disperse away from the feeding area. In that time I had seen many Red Kites and really close. Some interesting behaviour between Red Kites and Buzzards, and of course one of my favourite group of Birds the Corvides who also did not let me down with their presence, and I nearly forgot the one Heron who joined in as well. Gigrin Farm is really well worth a visit if you have not been, indeed now seeing this for myself, I can't wait to return and see this great spectacle again. I did have the camera with me as you can see, however it was quite a dull day so the ISO is running quite high on my Canon EOS 30D this to keep the shutter speed high enough for the flying birds. However may I suggest to people who go to take pictures, to go twice, once to enjoy it, and the other time to take pictures. I found it extremely difficult to do both, hence there are not many pictures.

Red Kite at Gigrin Farm note the wing tags

Swan Rescue Portishead, What! You have not heard about this.

What happens when the temperature becomes so low that water begins to freeze. Well most birds begin to abandon the fresh water and head to the salt water of the sea. However here is one Swan that forgot the rules, he is a first year Mute Swan from Portishead lake grounds. I was called by Secret World Wildlife Rescue to help with the rescue of this Swan stuck in the frozen lake, whilst they stood by ready to receive him. I went into action, however not before Someone had been in touch with the Portishead Life Boat rescue team. The plan was, a fully harnessed life boat team member would slide out across the ice and rescue the trapped Swan. Easy? Think again, these guys are the professionals and the fact they have health and safety as paramount is a really good reason why they do this bit and some one like me does not.

Trapped Swan on the ice of Portishead Lake grounds

Upon arrival the team of two from Portishead lifeboat worked with one person on land, the other tied to the first began inching his way out across the ice.

Life boat crewman inching his way across ice to Swan

My part in this was actually simple, and that was to secure the Swan when back on land, ensure it was free of stress and transfer to Secret World as quickly and safely as the wheels on freezing roads would let me.

Swan being secured ready for transport

Portishead Life Boat crew, me and the newly named "Frosty" the Swan

The trip on the M5 heading south to Highbridge, and then on to Secret World was OK actually, and around 1 hour after rescue the Swan (now called "Frosty" by the Portishead Life Boat team) was secure at Secret World and under a heat lamp.

Frosty on the mend at Secret World

Well that all happened on Tuesday evening, 6th of January. Indeed the rescue has attracted a lot of attention, these Swans are Portishead's pride and joy. But the following day I did interviews for both TV channels BBC and ITV, the Radio and press all turned up. So it was a great chance to talk about how other wildlife get affected during these extreme freeze ups and of course lots of messages about how people can help.

On Saturday 10th we were supposed to release Frosty back at Portishead, but the milder weather that had been predicted was a day late. I did a recce at the lake grounds and found that after a another night of minus 6 degrees centigrade, it was no surprise that the whole lake was still thick with ice.

Portishead Lake, still frozen up Sat 10th

Adult Swan on the edge of the lake Saturday 10th

I contacted Pauline Kidner at Secret World and called off the release, postponing it for another day. Returning Frosty to the lake grounds also caused another headache, as all his 4 brothers and sisters had now moved a short distance to Portishead Marina, (what we yer locals used to call Portishead Docks). Indeed later that day I went to the marina and there was about 15 to 20 Swans gathered in a mix group adults and sub adults, with the yearlings from the Lake grounds.
It may have been possible that by returning Frosty to the lake Grounds I could have just caused the adults there to just push him a way. So I made the decision not only to release on Sunday, but to give Frosty a head start and put him with the gathering of Swans at the Marina.

At 1400 hours on Sunday 11th of January I arrived at Secret World and saw Frosty out in the Swan pen, he looked great and ready to go.

Frosty showing good energy and fitness as he resists capture at Secret World

Staff at Secret World, who have done a real professional job for Frosty

I have to say that from the word go on this rescue Secret World have acted like real professionals, the communication at the beginning was brilliant, everything was ready for Frosty when he arrived at Secret World and the fact they have got him back on his feet in double quick time ready for the thaw was amazing. I of course on this rescue was representing Hawk and Owl Trust and I'm glad so many people commented on the fact after seeing the TV bits, how much they enjoyed seeing two organisations working together. After leaving Secret World I arrived at the Marina, and in the car being helped by Secret World volunteers Libby Brown and Leah Sperring, we were greeted by the Swan enthused public and BBC Points West cameraman.

BBC Cameraman, Frosty and Me, no more Rod Hull and Emu jokes please!

After a very quick interview I unstrapped Frosty from his restraining bag, and he was off, in fact just like a Duck to water (sorry bad pun). Interestingly his spell in captivity meant that the first thing he did once in the water was preen like there was tomorrow. The reason for this is to re oil himself to make sure his feathers are fully water proof, I could actually see him rubbing his beak across his preen gland then draw his feather through his beck, really great bit of behaviour. The other Swans looked on with interest and couple of the older more white ones, went out to show Frosty who was boss, this is normal and nothing to worry about. This is a big gathering of Swans and unlike his parents they would not try and get rid of him.

Frosty heads to water, note the onlookers

Frosty exercises his wings in the Marina

Well that's it and hopefully Frosty is on his way. He should live for a while at the Portishead Marina, he will of course be looked after by all the Portishead people who come to see the Swans gathering and of course to feed them. If anything does go wrong for any of the Swans the early alarm from the public is assured. From these gatherings young Swans will meet other Swans and in the Spring they will pair off and find somewhere in the Gordano Valley to have nests and bring up their own cygnets.

A huge thanks must go to the public of Portishead who raised the alarm about this Swan in the first place, and of course the rescue would not have been possible without the Portishead Life Boat Trust. Also thanks to Hawk and Owl Trust volunteer Dave Newton who used my camera and took all the pictures at the Marnia. Its very difficult holding a swan and taking pictures at the same time, thanks Dave.

And to Secret World http://www.secretworld.org/ for their communication, speed and care at the wildlife centre in Highbridge.

Merry Christmas

I'm having a short break but will be back soon.
In the meantime I hope you all have a great Christmas and lets start 09 by saving what we have left in the natural world.

BFN and enjoy.

Chris

Eagle Owl in Bristol Part 2

Eagle Owl photographed at Puxton Park forgot its name someone e-mail me please!

Update: Thanks for the e mail Katy.

This wonderful gentle giant is called "Harriet"

You can see her perform at Puxton Park near Weston Super Mare

Well you can't keep a good Owl down, and this one was showing well on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. I was interviewed as part of an item on BBC1's inside out, this story was with regards to the Bristol resident Eagle Owl who the local people have called Oscar. Better give him a latin name to go with that, um, how about Bubo bubo bristolius, well, it sounds good.
The Eagle Owl (Oscar) was roosting in a tree close to the biology department of Bristol University (wise Owl). Almost on cue around dusk, he flew to the Archaeological building and then began calling. Now this was amazing, as he sat proud on top of a chimney lowered his back raised his tail high and blasted out his double noted low toned call across Bristol "Hoo Huu". This continued for a while. What I had established in this time was that he looked like, and was coloured like the nominate race of Eagle Owl, therefore (Bubo bubo bubo) Northern European race, also he was indeed male, and the fact he was displaying so prominently should mean he was feeding well, and was now trying to attract a passing female. For me this is were it gets sad. I'm supposed to give a balanced view, however I could not help thinking as this King of the night hunters was booming out its call, and there was no reply, of course there was not going to be a reply. This Eagle Owl was alone, yet with a whole city protecting him, and even with university students studying him. I need to be careful here of course, because as I said during the interview never try and predict anything, for all I know a female is now making her way to him.

Bristol University students have collected and looked at his pellets (regurgitated, indigestible prey remains) and also backed up with some photographic evidence of what he is eating, such as Brown Rats, and I bet he is also eating Grey Squirrels as they were everywhere within his easy reach, also plenty of feral Pigeons.

The ace cameraman for the BBC was Richard Taylor-Jones, have a look at Richards brilliant Blog http://www.thewildernesscity.blogspot.com/ Richard seemed proud to be using some infrared gear to capture the night shots of Oscar, this gear on loan from the big cat diary team. This is the picture I took of the Camera (above), indeed it gave some stunning insights into this Eagle Owls nocturnal activity's. The picture below is of the monitor view that Mike Dilger and myself were looking into.

Oscar on the BBC Monitor

There are still many un-answered questions relating to Oscar, but I'm certain that he is of captive origin and not from a wild bred British nest. Sadly there are those creating an air of myth surrounding this bird. Eagle Owls because of their size are capable of much, yet often the myths that surround them can over take the facts.

Once again I talked this through via e mail to my good friend in Sweden Alar Broberg who has had 20 years experience with this species in the wild. I especially focused on questions surrounding diet and the fact of what appears to be the big issue here in the UK, and that is Eagle Owl catching Cats and Dogs. With Alars permission here is his answers.

Alar's response:

The basic food for Eagle owls is rodents and birds to size of a crow.
An eagle owl is a lazy- bird, and will catch the most common food resource that will not fight back too much, it does’t want to get injured. 5 rats are better than one crow.
Some examples of different nesting areas, rubbish dump owls; basically rodents and a very few gulls, owls in the archipelago; gulls, eiders and other waterfowl, owls on the main land ;crows, rodents, mallards.

We radio tracked one male in Stockholm for 6 months. We observed him for about 400 hours, during night time. This male nested and had his territory in Stockholm city.
All kills except one was rodents. The non rodent was possibly a Jackdaw. He could kill and eat up to 5 rodents/moles during 1 hour.
In the nest we found hares, mallards, crows and gulls. They must have been caught by the female.
A full grown hare is too heavy for an Eagle owl to carry during flight. So they are usually cut in pieces.

When the male hunted on a huge open area, where there were often dogs in the area. We could not observe any attack on a dog. On one occasion the male was on the ground and one dog owner told us to keep our dog in a leash. We told her that it is an Eagle owl, so when her dog came to close the male he took off and the owner believed us.

I know of two or three cats that have been attacked by Eagle owls in Sweden (we have approx 800 pairs), all cats where to big for the owl. I assume the owl made a miscalculation in the size of the cat and basically scratched it.

I also know about one dog, but I have also seen common buzzard strike a dog.
Having a dog close to a nesting site will in at least 60% of all case create an attack. The owls prefer to strike on the smaller dog instead of the human. This is pretty common and therefore no dogs are allowed when we are ringing owlets. I have no information of a dog kill in those situations, usually some small scratches.

I can not promise that no attack on dog or cat can happen, but if it happens it’s most likely that that the owl is trying to scare it away from a nesting site.

You should always be careful with big birds with huge talons.

I met Alar In Sweden when we were making the BBC Radio 4 series Owl Prowl and Planet Earth Under Threat, one of the programmes focused on Eagle Owl. Alar took us to one of the Eagle Owl nest sites to ring/band the owlets. Though we were in the nest and handling the 2 young Eagle owlets the parents watched us, but did not defend their owlets as I thought they might. We were issued with protective sunglasses just in case, and yes the adults were close by, and giving alarm calls, but that was it.

Proud moment, me with wild Eagle owlet in Sweden
Picture taken by Tom Arnbom, also with thanks to Alar Broberg and BBC NHU Radio

I was asked and have been e mailed about the future for Oscar. This would be impossible to answer. Though at present he seems to have his regular behaviour, however should his prey status change then it might force a change in his behaviour and maybe his location. But with so many good people looking out for him I do feel sure he is in safe hands with the people of Bristol, and observations of any changes will be forwarded.

And lastly. There are those within conservation that keep complaining about Eagle Owls being liberated from captivity. Yet they are the ones that if they really want to see this brought to heel, could be influencing DEFRA to have all keeping of Eagle Owls and therefore the captive bred offspring as well, registered with DEFRA. Meaning that every Eagle Owl bred or simply kept would be known to DEFRA, and further more every Eagle Owl in captivity should be rung with a DEFRA issued ring. This would stop the doubt about where these Owls come from when they are found in the wild. W ith regard to this idea, it is achievable, probably not priority, because of financing. It is thought that between 3000 and 4000 individual Eagle Owls are kept in captivity in the UK. Remember that's only a guess as this is not a registrable species, so no one really knows. Also don't forget that even if we believe the aforementioned number then a proportion of that number are in pairs and being bred, so the number is going up! In theory

With so many people going to see Oscar and becoming enthused by him, then let us conservationists never forget that this bird has turned a lot of ordinary people into thinking about natural history and its conservation in the City of Bristol. Well done Oscar!

Once again with regards to this blog entry on Eagle Owls, these thoughts and opinions are my own and do not in any way represent the view of any organisation I work for, or am Patron, or Trustee of.