With so few resident eagle owls left alive on British shooting estates, will this be another raptor facing immanent extinction in Britain following in the footsteps of the English hen harrier? Still both sides continue to fight over whether the bird is native to our shores or not. Both sides being bird watchers and some experienced owl conservationists like Roy Dennis and Tony Warburton who support the native argument. The debate being centered on whether any eagle owl could fly across the North Sea like its smaller cousins the long and short eared owls which cross the north sea every year. The there is an even closer relative, the Snowy Owl which has recently even bred over here.
An extract from the notes of Charles St John from the book below ‘Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands‘ written around 1840, gives a description of an owl which St John felt was an eagle owl –
‘I am much inclined to think that the great eared owl Strix Bubo is also occasionally a visitor to the wildest parts of this district [Sutherland].
A man described to me a large bird which he called an eagle. The bird was sitting on a fir tree and his attention was called by to it by the grey crows uttering their cries of alarm and war. He went up to the tree and close above his head sat a great bird with large yellow eyes as bright [so he expressed it] as two brass buttons. The man stopped to pick up stones or stick and the bird dashed off the tree into the recesses of the wood and was not seen again.
St John goes on to say that ‘ I have no doubt that instead of an eagle as he supposed it to be it was the Great Strix bubo. The colour of the eyes, the situation the bird was in on the branch of a tall fir tree and it remaining quiet until the man approached so close to it must have been the great owl’. In his foot note on the same page he adds – The eagle owl is a rare visitor to the British Isles. On the same page there was a second foot note about the rose coloured pastor [now starling] showing his knowledge of birds was very wide.
Eagle owls like golden and white tailed eagles and hen harriers have no place on red grouse moors as we are made to believe by the shooting lobby, even though the income from such birds through tourism can far out weigh the financial income from shooting red grouse. Not only does it out weigh it, tourism is for 12 months of the year, not like game shooting which only lasts for a few weeks in a year. Sadly the debate regarding the origin of eagle owls within the UK will die with its death!
An important point. No matter what the origins of the parents are, even if they are still wearing anklets, etc., any young born independently in the wild state are legally classes as just that – wild. So the fact that the doubters continue to doubt, is immaterial – Eagle Owls should now be back where they belong – on the official British List. They are far more worthy candidates than some of the species which currently appear on the list.
It’s about time we all woke up to the facts of life which relate to raptors and their legal protection throughout the uk. On paper there is no argument these species are completely protected under our own legislation and by European legislation. In practice this is certainly not the case however, a prime example being the eradication of the English hen harrier, a direct consequence of illegal persecution. I would also argue the scientific figures conclusively show birds like peregrine, short-eared owl and goshawk continue to be heavily persecuted upon red grouse moors in the uplands of England. This just proves the present laws serve as no deterrent and never will be without rigorous enforcement and penalties which truly deter the perpetrators of these crimes. I am sorry to say Tony the days of the eagle owl on England’s uplands are numbered, despite their legal status under European legislation.
The Eagle Owl is here, so lets give it the status and the protection it deserves.It is a wild British Owl…if you are born here you are BRITISH.
The Eagle Owl is now Indigenous in Great Britain. It has occurred naturally through whatever means. Let us embrace it and protect it!
The Eagle Owl is definitely an indigenous bird. It occurs right across Europe and Asia from North Japan to Holland, Sweden etc. Its European distribution can be seen here – http://www.sovon.nl/ebcc/eoa/?species1=&species2=&species3=&species4=7440
It is laughable to suggest that the channel is a barrier to it. It clearly has sufficient powers of flight.
We are on the edge of its (huge) distribution. It is relatively sedentary so not a fast spreading species – but will still spread if allowed to do so. The UK contains plenty of landscape (and prey – think of all those crows, rabbits etc) suitable for it so it is perfectly natural for it to live in this country.
Tony says it all, the Eagle Owl was a native species, the RSPB and other organisations can argue until they are blue in the face, it is now back where it rightfully belongs and yes we should rejoice and enjoy the manificent beauty of this wonderful owl.The very fact that if left alone this owl does well and survives in the wild speaks for itself, the correct habitat is here for them and always has been.
We should ask ourselves, did it ever go away in the first place? Owls are secretive and masters at hiding away from the very humans who think they have a right to decide their future in this country. The only future for many of our raptors seems to be the certainty of extinction because of man’s greed which brings shame to this country. It is time we stopped to smell the roses, as Tony says this owl should be placed back onto the British Species List where it so very rightly belongs and be left in peace for the many people who marvel at the sheer beauty of seeing them flying in the wilds of Britain.
(and prey – think of all those crows, rabbits etc) does the etc include Hen Harrier chicks?
Editor’s comment. Hi Daye, as far as we have been able to establish, there is no hard evidence which proves an eagle owl has ever predated a hen harrier chick in this country. The feathers found by the 2009 nest wrongly identified by Natural England as hen harrier, when in fact they were from a black headed gull. A corpse of an adult hen harrier which had been ringed in Wales qas found above the same Bowland eagle owl nest, but again no hard eye witness evidence to show the dead bird had been predated by an eagle owl.
Clearly a dead hen harrier and juvenile harrier feathers recovered among other prey remains near an eagle owl nest cannot possibly be hard evidence of predation.
On the other hand, a 200 year old report of an eagle that is re-identified as an eagle owl because of its ‘large yellow eyes’ is clearly evidence of native status (as long as you ignore the fact that eagle owls have orange and not yellow eyes).
Editor’s Comment, Mike we know where you are comming from however, under bright day light conditions, the colour of an eagle owl eye can appear yellow, especially to an untrained observer who had never seen an eagle owl before. Take a look at this link http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2012/07/16/the-eagle-owl-the-question-is-were-they-once-native-of-scotland/#more-8109
I doubt this comment will be posted, but the balance of proof here is very telling. Hen harrier remains at an eagle owl nest? An eagle owl observed on camera disturbing a hen harrier nest? Well that’s obviously unreliable, subjective, it doesn’t mean anything. But when the case for recent vagrancy or native origin is made with flimsy, and I mean the flimsiest evidence imaginable, it’s treated as gospel. The fact is, this debate will never be settled with reasoned argument. Because Eagle Owls are magnificent birds, and people want them to be native; and they worry that if they are shown to not be native, their future will be made uncertain. But this isn’t just a talking point; it’s a high stakes game. Hen Harriers are hanging on by the skin of their teeth, and the loss of even one breeding adult can wipe them out from an entire region. Eagle Owls have been demonstrated to predate Hen Harriers; not often, granted, but they only need to eat one and it’s game over. As long as we defend Eagle Owls, we prioritise the non-native over the native. The common versus the endangered. Nature has 100 on black, and the ball’s bouncing into the red.
I’m no gambling man DJ Peter – Just hard facts and figures. And so your comment should rightly indeed be posted, it is a well developed and spoken opinion that certainly hasn’t been pulled from thin air – you are certainly more than entitled to it.
However does the whole debate not come back full circle to persecution??? The sky dancer, arguably one of the most awe inspiring and magnificent birds of prey to be witnessed within the sky’s of the British Isles. Almost ghostly, yet strangely emotive and comforting if ever so lucky to glimpse one these days quartering English moorland. And why indeed is it such a fortuitous occasion to bear witness to?
As you correctly point out the species is ‘hanging on by the skin of their teeth’. Myself personally, drawing from hard facts, figures and importantly history, feel it is already too late in the day for a serious difference to be made to the plight of the English Hen Harrier in the near to mid future. There would have to be monumental steps taken in the very foundations and cloth of English wildlife Law to up stand any chance of there being a revival by birds from the rest of the British Isles. For example, like our good friends north of the border who have lit the lights which guide the path clearly to vicarious liability.
But even if this took immediate effect in England for which I assure you while idiots like Richard Benyon are conducting Natural England, it won’t, it would still take a life time to make any real effect.
NE have been hearing from experienced raptor field workers, for not years, but many decades about the plight of our PROTECTED raptors upon driven grouse moors but to no avail. Just look at their Hen Harrier Recovery Project started back in 2000. The biggest waste of tax payer’s money this side of the millennium dome. All for NE to conclude that ‘Hen Harriers do suffer from illegal persecution in some places’. And we really needed to devote time and money to this white elephant project?
How effective and competent the whole shambles was is clearly evident, from pairs of English Hen Harriers in their teens in 2000 to one breeding pair this year? And they have worked so well at alienating experienced and knowledgeable raptor workers, shattering confidence and burning bridges that any direct information that myself and others learn of the Hen Harrier would certainly ‘NEVER’ be passed onto them again. Painfully apparent last year when a successful clutch of harriers fledged from a nest in Bowland that NE nor I doubt any other individuals knew of at all. It certainly wasn’t documented in NE’s report.
And thus back to the Eagle owl. An intrepid wonderer reclaiming long lost lands of its ancestors? Or a budding species willing to captivate and exploit its timely escape into the British Fauna & Flora?
No, the the real question is not which species we pick & choose to defend, but more along the lines of WHEN are all our protected raptors going to become just that, Protected! Sadly the sun is setting on the Hen Harriers plight in a very sombre BUT PREDICTABLE way; this must not be allowed to ever happen again to any other of our magnificent birds of prey!