Page 37 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #12

LONG-EARED OWLS

Owl’s that?
Clockwise from gathering of long-
top left: the eared owls in the Britain’s
long-eared owl's world; in the UK,
distinctive ear tufts the owls seek cover mystery owl
are raised when in hedgerows and
the bird becomes mixed woodland
alarmed; Kikinda is but are most likely
known to have the to be spotted There are thought to be 3,500
largest and most along the coast
important winter during migration. breeding pairs of long-eared
owls in the UK, with individuals
from elsewhere in northern
Europe swelling the population
Finland where other bird protection societies in winter. But our knowledge of
and groups will capture and ring them, the species’ status is poor – we
and slowly gain more information on the really don’t know if these figures
movements of this mysterious owl. are accurate. The main reasons
eft: V ctor Tyakht/A amy; Dav d L ndo; Graham Eaton/NPL
for such important gaps in our
Grouping together understanding are that the
Unlike in Britain, where rodenticide is used long-eared owl is predominantly
routinely to kill pests (and, as a result, the nocturnal, occurs at low density
owls who eat them), poisons are not used in and isn’t easy to survey, so its
Serbia. I wondered, if the situation was the conservation status can’t be
same in some areas of Britain where this properly assessed. The species
kind of agricultural progress has intensified features in a suite of owl-related
production, how many more owls we might work the BTO is carrying out this
have? We, sadly, define our owl species by winter, with the focus on tawny
their rarity, or often their absence. Here in owls, which may compete with
Serbia, in these low-lying villages with their long-eared owls.
C ockw se from small houses, each with their hen runs, O Join the BTO’s Project Owl:
pine copses and sleepy, free-range dogs,
www.bto.org/owls
there did seem to be more owls than people.

December 2018 BBC Wildlife 37